December 1, 2018: Open It Up or We’ll Shut It Down! Mexicans and Americans Stand With Us!
Open It Up or We’ll Shut It Down!
Everyone Must Be Let In!
Mexicans and Americans Stand With Us!
*Asylum for All! Let the Caravan In!
*No to Child Separation! No to Detention! No to Deportation!
*Shut Down Immigrant Concentration Camps!
*No to the “Remain in Mexico” Policy!
*Mexico Must Demand that the U.S. Accept Asylum Seekers Now!
*The Mexican Government Must Not Do Trump’s Dirty Work!
*No Concentration Camps Along the Mexican Border!
*Trump Must Go or Be Removed By Any Means Necessary!
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Our first march to the border on Sunday, November 25, brought us closer than ever to the United States since we began our great march for freedom! Some of us even touched American soil. We reminded ourselves of the strength we have collectively. The government of Donald Trump and the United States were reminded that we will not give up until we fulfill our dream of reaching “La USA” and that the pressure of the people who support us in the United States, in Mexico and in the world, is bearing down on him. On the Mexican side, the new president, Manuel López Obrador, also was reminded that he should not be Trump’s water boy by starting his presidency doing Trump’s dirty work. Our march that shut down the border has cost millions of dollars for the United States and Mexico, increasing the economic pressure on Trump from businesses and people in both Mexico and the United States. The success of the caravan’s tactic of shutting down the border, stopping “business as usual” and costing great economic loses to both countries is why we must continue to march to the border. The US and Mexico cannot afford to continue to lose billions of dollars with each shut down. Trump cannot close the border permanently, no matter how much he lies and threatens Mexico and the caravans.
Our first march to the border which caused the checkpoint shut down is already changing things in our favor. Despite the blows and gross attacks against us by US immigration officers and the Mexican police, our attempt was not in vain. We already know from our own experience on the border of Guatemala and Mexico that in order to cross, it may take more than one attempt. Even though the border between Mexico and the United States will be more difficult, it is not impossible. Thanks to our march’s success of shutting down the border on Sunday, international support has greatly increased in our favor. Videos and images of the brutal response of border agents firing rubber bullets and tear gas canisters indiscriminately against migrants, including children, continue to travel the world day and night, causing the world to condemn the actions of the Trump government. Politicians in the United States who were previously silent now criticize Trump and defend the right of the caravan to seek asylum.
The new government of Mexico, with Lopez Obrador as president, has been forced to deny plans between his government and the Trump government to implement the policy of “Remain in Mexico” which would force this caravan and others to remain and wait months and maybe years for the opportunity to enter or receive asylum in the United States. It would also create permanent refugee camps in Tijuana and across the border on the Mexico side.
On Saturday, December 1st, Obrador’s first day in office, we must let him know that neither the people of Mexico nor we in the caravan will allow him to do Trump’s dirty work. The blood of the people attacked on the border, the cruelty against the children, and the suffering of the people in our caravan and the other asylum seekers who come to the border, who also will need to try to cross, will be Trump’s fault as well as Obrador’s. International freedom of movement, the right of people to move freely across international borders all over the world, in particular from oppressed nations, is a growing daily necessity caused by wars, tyrannical regimes, climate change, and economic instability. Lopez Obrador must completely abandon the “Remain in Mexico” plan. He must support the migrants and demand that the border be opened to allow us to enter and seek asylum. We have made a long journey and we are now at the finish line. We cannot accept and believe the lies and false rumors being spread that intend to demoralize us to abandon our dreams. This is not the time to return to our countries. We must stay together and stay strong while we fight to cross. The end of our march is almost over. It’s time to cross that finish line.
Images and videos of the caravan’s courageous attempt to cross to the US that led to the shut down of the border and the brutal, racist response by US immigration agents reminded Americans and people all over the world of the videos and images of the 1960’s struggle led by Dr. Martin Luther King against Jim Crow segregation in the American south. In the marches that took place in Selma, Alabama where thousands of people attempted to march across the Pettus bridge towards Montgomery, Alabama to defeat Jim Crow racist segregation were attacked by police who threw tear gas and brutalized the protesters. A similar struggle took place in Birmingham, Alabama where thousands of young people led the final mass march on the streets, asserting their dignity and equality against the brutality of police. In both cases, these civil rights and human rights struggles shocked and “awakened the national conscience” and the world, and inspired thousands to join and march again, successfully forcing the American government to change their policies and defeated the unequal second-class treatment of black people under racist segregation in America.
Everyone knows that both Mexico and the United States depend on trade relations between both countries and also with the other Central American countries. When we shut down the border we show our power, costing millions and millions of lost businesses, both Mexican and American. Each of our attempts and each closure of the border exerts more pressure from the people and businesses of Mexico and the United States on Trump and Lopez Obrador. The solution is easy: asylum for all! Let the caravan in!
