The Refugee Caravan Arrived at the Border Only to Be Told to Keep Waiting 

A caravan of nearly 200 Central American migrants seeking asylum in the United States finally reached the United States, only to be told by border agents that they must continue to wait because the inspection facility had “reached capacity,” the Associated Press reports.

But the asylum-seekers traveling with Pueblo Sin Fronteras, the group that organized the caravan, aren’t giving up. They’re camping outside the processing facilities with their families, hoping that their journey through Mexico ends on U.S. soil.

Customs and Border Protection says the San Ysidro border inspection facility only holds 300 people, and the asylum seekers will have to wait for those already in the facility to be processed. But there’s reasonable concern over how fairly these migrants will be treated, considering the fact that President Trump vowed to block their entry into the country.

Throughout April, the caravan has been the subject of more than one of Trump’s paranoia-laced Twitter ramblings. Last week, Trump tweeted, “I have instructed the Secretary of Homeland Security not to let these large Caravans of people into our Country. It is a disgrace.”

Here are two stories of survival from the migrants Trump is so terrified of, from the AP:

Wendi Yaneri Garcia said she was confident she will be released while her asylum case is pending because she is traveling alone with her 2-year-old son, who has been sick. She said that police in her hometown of Atlantida, Honduras, jailed her for protesting construction of a hydroelectric plant and that she received death threats after being released.

“All I want is a place where I can work and raise my son,” the 36-year-old said.

Elin Orrellana, a 23-year-old pregnant woman from El Salvador, said she is fleeing the violent MS-13 street gang, a favorite target of both Sessions and Trump because of their brutal killings in communities in the United States. She said her older sister had been killed by the gang in El Salvador, so she is attempting to join other family members in the Kansas City area.

“Fighting on is worth it,” she said as she camped out for chilly night outside the border crossing.

During a press briefing on April 6, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders claimed that the Trump administration cared deeply about the lives of Central American migrant women. But when confronted with these very women on the nation’s doorstep, they claim they’re a threat. This administration thrives on messaging such cynical dissonance, and the consequences remain dire for those with their lives on the line.