Popular in News & Politics

1. The Real Story of the Glamorous Prosecutor Who Took on Police Violence—and Then Seemed to Implode
2. Elena Kagan Sees Exactly What Samuel Alito Is Doing
3. What Exactly Does Nikki Haley Expect Her Voters to Do Now?
4. Alito’s Second Flag Has an Even Scarier Story Than the First

President Trump, perhaps realizing that the military “engineers, lawyers and medical personnel,” that are being deployed to the border won’t actually be a meaningful deterrent to anyone attempting to enter, tweeted that the four-to-five-thousand strong migrant caravan in southern Mexico should turn around.

To those in the Caravan, turnaround, we are not letting people into the United States illegally. Go back to your Country and if you want, apply for citizenship like millions of others are doing!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 25, 2018

Besides the fact that applying for citizenship comes at the end of a years-long-process that includes already residing in the U.S. and having permanent legal residence, it’s also perfectly plausible that the caravan members who make the over 1,000 mile trip to the border will try to apply for asylum legally at a port of entry.

The few hundred people who made it to the border from the last major caravan this past spring sought asylum at a border crossing in San Diego. According to the New York Times, three have won asylum, 30 are still in detention, and “the majority have been released as their asylum cases wind through the immigration courts.” About 1,700 of the current caravanmembers have already applied for asylum in Mexico.

It is also possible to legally apply for legal entry into the United States from abroad without a close family connection or a specific employment or educational opportunity. It’s typically done through the diversity visa lottery, a program that, of course, Trump wants to abolish.

• Immigration