Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff

This so-called ‘caravan’ of refugees headed to the USA-Mexico border from Central America sure has caught everyone’s attention. As soon as this ‘caravan’ became a real issue President Donald Trump said he’s bringing in the U.S. National Guard Army “immediately” to protect the southern border from Texas to California because it has become a “point of crisis.”

State governors in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona are welcoming the National Guard troops, but not California – at least not yet. If there is to be a ‘High Noon’ showdown it will be in California.

News reports from Mexico say this ‘caravan’ of about 1,500 men, women and children from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador has been stalled in South-Central Mexico and it had been broken up by Mexican authorities right after President Trump threatened to give up negotiations on the North American Free Trade Agreement. The group claims they left their home countries due to poverty, drugs, violence and gangs, and they are seeking “refugee status” or sanctuary in the USA.

Did these Central Americans just give up, turn around with a happy face and start marching backwards? It’s time to read between the lines. This ‘caravan’ did not happen spontaneously. This is no cry for assistance from helpless refugees. It is organized and sponsored by the immigrant-rights-leftist organization People Without Borders or Pueblos Sin Fronteras. This group is hell bent on using these illegal immigrants as guinea pigs or sacrificial lambs to confront the Trump administration and U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement.

More than likely this large group is being broken down into smaller groups that will attempt to enter the United States of America illegally at various points along the USA-Mexico border in the coming weeks. ICE border patrol officers all along the southern border are on high alert as they wait for reinforcements from the National Guard.

“We are going to be guarding our border with our military. That’s a big step,” President Trump said on Tuesday. “We cannot have people flowing into our country illegally … disappearing … .”

News reports say Mexico has backtracked and sent some of the illegals back to Central America, granted some temporary visas while others vowed to continue on in the company of Pueblos Sin Fronteras. How accurate these reports are is questionable, but President Trump and ICE have no intention of letting any of these illegals into the USA. Mexico started this ‘caravan’ by allowing them entrance through Mexico’s secure southern border at Chiapas and these people are now Mexico’s problem.

Sending the National Guard to aid ICE at the southern border will only help President Trump’s job approval rating that has been creeping steadily up in recent weeks. According to Real Clear Politics polling averages of 12 presidential polls claiming to measure the president’s job approval the president has received his highest rating to date from Rasmussen who gave the president a 51-percent approval rating while the lowest was 38-percent from Investor’s Business Daily. Overall, RCP gave the president a 41.8-percent approval rating.

All of this nonsense coming from liberal California becoming a sanctuary state harboring illegals by the millions has many cities and counties in California pushing back against the state legislature in Sacramento by filing lawsuits to opt out of any sanctuary-related-status for their cities or counties. As of Thursday morning six jurisdictions in southern California have voted to join the federal anti-sanctuary city lawsuit filed recently by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions challenging California’s sanctuary state status that openly violates federal immigration laws.

Apparently not everyone in California is a liberal looney-tune like Gov. Jerry Brown – who just signed pardons for five felony-convicted criminals to keep them from getting deported—all thieves, kidnappers and drug dealers. Brown’s pardons are seen as thumbing his nose at President Trump and his attempts to secure the nation’s borders.

The recent six-month government spending bill passed last month had nothing in it for the DACA kids – children brought to the USA illegally years ago by their mostly Mexican parents who are now adults. President Trump made an offer to the Democrats to allow 1.8-million DACA kids including relatives to stay in the USA on a path leading to citizenship in time, but the Democrats refused to negotiate for the same people they were protecting for years beginning with President OBama. They know who is and who is not on their side and it’s not the Democratic leadership cheering on this group of innocents left in liberal-landia. Trump tried, the liberals blew the deal and the DACA kids remain in limbo because congressional Democrats will not deal with President Trump – on anything. The political divisions in the USA are widening as the 2018 mid-term elections are bearing down as the president becomes more popular.

President Trump is openly defending the southern border from intruders that are not wanted – not next week, not next month — not ever. Seal the southern border, bring in the National Guard to support ICE and the Department of Homeland Security to keep out these benefit-blood-suckers of American, flag-waving society and of course “Build the Wall.”

About the Author Britt Nelson relocated to Costa Rica in 2011 from Florida, where he served as news editor for the Palatka Daily News, a newspaper owned by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group (NYT-RNG) for 20 years.

Nelson served the NYT-RNG for 18 years in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as a correspondent, reporter, staff writer, senior staff writer training new reporters, copy editor, page designer, editorial writer, editorial page editor and editorial board member.