You know what one of the top-searched-for words online was on Thursday night and into Friday? Coyote. Yes, online searches spiked 675% after President Trump referred to the fact that one of the reasons a reported 545 children have been separated from their parents is that the children have been brought here by coyotes.
In Thursday’s final presidential debate, Joe Biden and Kristen Welker pushed Trump hard on the immigration issue, and the president laid out facts that confused a lot of people around the country who weren’t familiar with some of the troubling details of human smuggling. “Children are brought here by coyotes and lots of bad people, cartels, and they’re brought here and it’s easy to use them to get into our country,” said Trump from his podium in Nashville.
While a lot of smart Americans educated themselves on what role “coyotes” play in illegal immigration, others made complete fools of themselves by not looking up the definition of “coyote” in this context.
One would be Georgia state representative Dar’shun Kendrick, an elected official, who posted this gem of a message on her Twitter feed: “Did @realDonaldTrump just say 545 kids they can’t find their parents for came over through “cartels and coyotes”?! How the hell does a coyote bring a whole human across the border?! Lord—–stop talking. #FinalDebate”
Much thanks to Rep. Kendrick for providing this comic relief in stressful times. It was not a proud moment for her or those who voted for her, but she undoubtedly picked up followers.
For those who didn’t have time to do the research, Latino USA explains that “a coyote, also known as ‘el coyote,’ is a term for a person who smuggles others across borders in exchange for payment. Smugglers guiding immigrants from Central America across the U.S. border work as loosely knit groups of people who operate independently in each of the countries along the route. There is no hierarchical structure between them. Each group is in charge of arranging transportation and securing lodging in their area, and the money charged to migrants is split among groups along the route.
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