90 Miles From Tyranny

Thursday, January 17, 2019

Border rancher: 'We’ve found prayer rugs out here. It’s unreal'

LORDSBURG, N.M. — Ranchers and farmers near the U.S.-Mexico border have been finding prayer rugs on their properties in recent months, according to one rancher who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation by cartels who move the individuals.

The mats are pieces of carpet that those of the Muslim faith kneel on as they worship.

"There’s a lot of people coming in not just from Mexico," the rancher said. "People, the general public, just don’t get the terrorist threats of that. That’s what’s really scary. You don’t know what’s coming across. We’ve found prayer rugs out here. It’s unreal. It’s not just Mexican nationals that are coming across."

Her comments were part of a larger conversation about how many in the region believe migrants are coming to the U.S. illegally from all over the world, not just Central America.

Border Patrol and its parent agency, Customs and Border Protection, did not respond to multiple interview requests. But CBP's Arizona region issued a statement on Twitter Wednesday that said agents had arrested people from across the world over the past five days.

The rancher, who lives with her family in a remote, southwestern part of the state, said the discoveries raise questions about how many people who illegally entered the U.S. in Hidalgo County, N.M., traveled thousands of miles from overseas to sneak across the southern...

A reported leader of the most recent migrant caravan to leave Honduras for the United States was arrested in San Pedro Sula for an alleged rape.

According to Columbia’s El Heraldo, via Google translation:

The suspect was identified as Juan Carlos Molina, who was supposedly one of the organizers of the exodus that left Monday from San Pedro Sula to the United States.

National Police told the news site Molina was under surveillance and arrested at a checkpoint for a pending 2015 arrest warrant for rape, based on a complaint from a protected witness.

The news site published images of hundreds of Hondurans – mostly men and young boys, but also mothers and small children – marching out of the city as they headed north through Guatemala on Monday.

Deputy Foreign Minister Nelly Jerez told El Heraldo 60 minors were detained at the border Monday when they attempted to cross into Guatemala, including 10 who were not accompanied by their parents.

The Foreign Ministry estimates that about 13,000 Hondurans made it to Mexico in two previous caravans in recent months, with more than half – 7,270 returning home after they were blocked from asylum at the U.S. border. At least 11 people died in the caravans, while thousands of others remain in shelters in Mexico.

Honduras’ National Institute of Migration warned the most recent wave of departing migrants that while adults can travel freely through Guatemala, they’re required to obtain a visa to enter Mexico. Citizens under the age of 21, meanwhile, must acquire a...