Opinion: Let's take a look at 'mysteries' of caravan

Did you hear there’s a caravan of migrants coming to our country? Watch the right news reports, and it seems imminent. Let’s unfurl some of the mysteries about the caravan.

How many people are in the caravan?

There are about 7,000, most of them believed to be from Honduras.

How many are planning to enter illegally?

Their plan is to go from country to country applying for political asylum, which is perfectly legal here. Plus, if you’re planning to commit a crime, why would you do it in a way that draws so much attention?

Aren’t there Middle Easterners in the caravan, trying to plot terrorist acts?

There’s no evidence of it, despite what President Trump said two weeks ago about “unknown Middle Easterners” being in the caravan.

The next day, he was asked about evidence of his claim. He said he had “very good information” and “there could very well be,” but, “there’s no proof of anything.”

Well, maybe they’re coming with pizza and cake so we can have a big party for everybody with November birthdays. There very well could be.

Aren’t they coming by trains and buses? I saw photos of it on Facebook.

Some of them may be coming by vehicle, but most of them are walking. The pictures you probably saw (the most popular one came from “Drain the Swamp”) showed pictures of a caravan in April that turned out to be no big deal and of men atop a train in 2013.

Again, most of them are walking, and are on pace to get to the U.S.-Mexico border around January.

I saw photos of three men burning the American flag. That was on Facebook too. Why are they disrespecting our country if they want to come here?

That’s another Facebook post. None of the three photos have anything to do with the caravan. They’re from protests in London and the United States. Get mad at those guys if you want, but don’t take it out on people who had nothing to do with it.

Since there are so many posts about photos of the caravan, let me offer a parable. I’m not wearing a bright green shirt today. I know that’s hard to believe, because the mug shot that runs with my column clearly shows me wearing a green shirt. A simple search for that image would indicate that picture was taken years ago. I’m writing this while wearing a very comfortable burgundy pullover, for the record.

A picture can say a thousand words, but the words might be false. Context matters.

How many troops are we sending there?

President Trump has said he would commit up to 15,000 troops.

We have around 170,000 troops committed overseas, with roughly half in east and southeast Asia. Most of the rest are in Germany (35,000), Italy (12,600) and the United Kingdom (9,132). The 15,000 troops would be more than we have in 2016 estimates of Iraq and Afghanistan combined.

If they’re not going to be here for months, there’s no evidence they’re breaking any laws and they pose no provable threat, why are we hearing so much about them?

Election Day is Tuesday. It’s not much of a mystery why it’s being mentioned now.

Kevin Wilson is managing editor of The Eastern New Mexico News. Contact him at: kwilson@thenews.email