“I would like people to keep in mind that, if we’re coming to this country, it’s because we are truly suffering in our own countries. I’ve seen a lot of women that were mutilated, their arms were cut off. Or they’ll cut your face … Maybe people don’t know the need that we have to be protected. And that our governments are not doing a good job, that they don’t defend the rights of women and children. But I feel hope in people, the people who have been surrounding me lately … And I have hope that people will recognize that we’re people, too, with faith and hopes. And that our human dignity is being violated. And that it’s so sad to come here to seek refuge, and we can’t find it.” If we’re willing to block people from coming in, or force others to leave, we should be willing to examine exactly who we’re talking about. In The New Yorker, Dave Eggers visits with one of those people.

+ “The caravan is real. The migrants in it — mostly Hondurans (with some Guatemalans), half of whom are girls and women, many intending to seek asylum in the US — are real people. They made the decision to leave their home countries, assessing that the danger of leaving was outstripped by the danger of facing gang death threats or feeding a family on $5 per day. And they made the decision to go together, joining the caravan as it progressed, instead of alone like tens of thousands of their fellow Guatemalans and Hondurans (and Salvadorans) do every year.” Vox: The migrant caravan, explained.

+ “They are not yet close to the US border, having only crossed between Guatemala and Mexico last weekend.” Wired: Don’t Believe Everything You Read About The Migrant Caravan.