Flood of migrants already heading to southern border, MAGA faithful claims in doomsaying push

Flood of migrants already heading to southern border, MAGA faithful claims in doomsaying push Democrats won key races in Texas on Tuesday, worrying Trump’s base about what will happen to the president’s immigration crackdown - Bookmark - CommentsGo to comments Become an Independent member to bookmark this article Already a member? Log in MAGA faithful Steve Bannon has claimed that a flood of migrants is already heading to the southern border after Democrats saw massive wins in Texas’ midterm elections. Bannon and his podcast guest Todd Bensman have begun doomsaying less than 24 hours after Democrat James Talarico flipped a Senate seat and Gina Hinojosa was elected the first-ever Latina governor in the ruby red state. “They’ve already got caravans coming up. They’re all excited down in Central America that the gates are opening again,” Bannon told Bensman, an immigration expert at a conservative think tank called The Heritage Foundation, on his War Room show Wednesday. When contacted by The Independent for evidence to back up his claims, Bannon cited several news articles about caravans of Hondurans traveling north in anticipation of the midterms. Dozens of people left Honduras Tuesday to head to the U.S. in hopes that the midterms would weaken Trump’s immigration crackdown, The Tico Times, a Costa Rica-based English-language newspaper, reported. “Trump is on his way out in these elections. That’s why we’re taking the risk. Here in Honduras, we have nothing left,” Jimena Morazán, a 47-year-old traveling with five relatives, said in the article. The Latin Times said Tuesday’s caravan was the third significant organized movement of Hondurans to leave out of San Pedro Sula since early fall. “The border is quiet, but it’s not dead. There are still lots of runners coming across,” Bensman warned. But President Donald Trump has said himself that the border is secure under his presidency, which lasts another two years. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection has reported nearly 140,000 encounters in the 2026 fiscal year. But the agency has also celebrated 16 consecutive months of zero releases at the border, meaning that migrants are not passing into the U.S. Hinojosa and Talarico have both pledged to secure the border, but have also spoken out against aggressive tactics used to curb immigration under Trump and current Republican Governor Greg Abbott. “As governor, I will never offer up Texas as a staging ground for operations that terrorize families and enrich [Abbott’s] donors,” Hinojosa said in a January press release. Talarico has suggested on his campaign website that “Our border should be like a front porch — it should have a welcome mat out front and a lock on the door.” “We should be cracking down on the cartels, not our communities. We should be deporting gang members, not small business owners. We should be hunting down human traffickers, not moms and babies,” he said. Bannon also used a “welcome mat” metaphor for immigration — but as a dig at Democrats like Talarico. “The invaders know when Democrats take control, the welcome mat is out,” he told The Independent. The Independent has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment. Bensman had suggested Trump use the National Guard to keep the border secure if Democrats in Texas, where about half of the southern border is located, fail to do so. “There are about 4,000 Texas National Guard down there. They’ll probably all be pulled, maybe the Trump administration will have to nationalize them…or just replace them with regular Army, who provide another very important duty of arresting, tracking groups and providing backup to the Border Patrol,” Bensman said. Trump has used the National Guard during protests against his immigration agenda in Los Angeles and to crack down on already declining crime in Washington, D.C., earlier in his second term — and it was met with fierce backlash. “I think that they should be able to hold the line for a couple of years, but after Trump leaves…if there’s a Democrat in the White House, probably, it’s all gonna be on again,” he added. Join our commenting forum Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies Comments [Image text:] THE PRO-HUMAN ASSEMBLY 2026