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“While we acknowledge there are vulnerabilities at both our northern and southern border, we do not see any evidence that ISIS or other Sunni terrorist groups are trying to infiltrate the southern U.S. border,” the unnamed official toldCNN.
On Monday, Trump told reporters, according to theAssociated Press, “Take your camera, go into the middle and search. You’re gonna find MS-13, you’re gonna find Middle Eastern, you’re going to find everything. And guess what? We’re not allowing them in our country. We want safety.”
He did not provide any evidence for his claims.
Trump also alleged, without proof, in a tweet that day that the caravan includes “criminals and unknown Middle Easterners.”
On Tuesday, Vice PresidentMike Pencebacked up his boss, saying that it is “inconceivable that there are not people of Middle Eastern descent” in the caravan, according toThe Washington Post.
ANew York Timesfact check of the claims found that “there is no evidence that ‘unknown Middle Easterners’ have infiltrated the migrant caravan heading toward the United States’ southern border.
“Reporters withThe New York Timesand other newsmediaoutletstraveling with the caravan say they have not seen any Middle Easterners in the group. No government agency has confirmed Mr. Trump’s claim,” theTimesnoted.
“Trump said there are terrorists here,” Irineo Mujica, the director of Pueblo Sin Fronteras, toldThe New York Times. “Does he mean women? Children? The bombs must be diapers.”
CNN also reported that the caravan is largely comprised of mothers and children.
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The group, which started with around 160 people in Honduras, has grown to an estimated 7,200 people, the UN said on Monday, according to theAP.
John Cohen, the former Homeland Security acting Undersecretary, told CNN that the Trump administration has “clearly” made “an effort” to worry people about the caravan.
“That fear, from a law enforcement perspective, is highly misplaced,” Cohen explained. “It may be effective at energizing the base, but it creates a needless fear of the caravan.”
source: people.com
