The Hashtag
#TheCaravan dominated pre-2018 midterm news as thousands of Central American migrants traveled north, becoming a political football and Fox News obsession.
Origins
In October 2018, several thousand migrants from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador began traveling together through Mexico toward the U.S. border, seeking asylum from gang violence and poverty.
Trump immediately weaponized it:
- Called it an “invasion”
- Claimed it contained “criminals and unknown Middle Easterners”
- Deployed 5,200 troops to the border (more than in Syria)
- Ran ads calling Democrats responsible
- Made it his closing midterm message
Fox News covered it nonstop—until Election Day, when coverage mysteriously vanished.
Cultural Impact
The hashtag represented:
- Immigration’s power as a GOP mobilization issue
- Media’s complicity in political narratives (hyping threats pre-election, forgetting post-election)
- Asylum seekers portrayed as invaders rather than refugees
- The gap between rhetoric (imminent threat) and reality (people walking, months from border)
What actually happened:
- Most caravan members applied for asylum legally at ports of entry
- Many were families with children fleeing violence
- The “invasion” was ~3,000-7,000 people arriving over months
- No Middle Eastern terrorists were found
Post-midterm, Trump stopped mentioning it. The “emergency” evaporated the moment its political utility ended.