Mike Pence: ‘Inconceivable’ That Migrant Caravan Doesn’t Have Middle Eastern Marchers

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 22: U.S. Vice President Mike Pence speaks before U.S. President Don
Mark Wilson/Getty Images, AP Photo/Moises Castillo
Joshua Caplan

Vice President Mike Pence defended President Donald Trump’s assertion that Middle Easterners are represented among the more than 7,000 migrants advancing toward the United States’ southern border, stating Tuesday it is “inconceivable” to believe there are none.

“It’s inconceivable that there are not people of Middle Eastern descent in a crowd of more than 7,000 people advancing toward our border,” Pence told The Washington Post’s Robert Costa when asked about the president’s claim. “In the last fiscal year, we apprehended more than ten terrorists or suspected terrorists per day at our southern border from countries that are referred to in the lexicon as ‘other than Mexico’ — that means from the Middle East region.”

President Trump on Monday said he alerted the U.S. military that the caravan was a national emergency, adding criminals and “unknown Middle Easterners” are among the thousands advancing to the border.

“Sadly, it looks like Mexico’s Police and Military are unable to stop the Caravan heading to the Southern Border of the United States. Criminals and unknown Middle Easterners are mixed in,” the president tweeted. “I have alerted Border Patrol and Military that this is a National [Emergency]. Must change laws!”

Further, President Trump stated his administration will reduce U.S. foreign aid to multiple Central American countries due to their failure of preventing the caravan from advancing towards the border. “Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador were not able to do the job of stopping people from leaving their country and coming illegally to the U.S.,” he wrote on Twitter. “We will now begin cutting off, or substantially reducing, the massive foreign aid routinely given to them.”

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