The last thing the left wants prior to the midterms is an image dramatizing the weakness of our southern border.

So the caravan of thousands of migrants, emanating from Honduras and headed toward the United States, is considered an illegitimate story, a shoddy excuse for President Donald Trump’s chest-beating and fear-mongering.

It’s certainly true that Trump and his allies have thrown up a lot of chaff around the caravan. It’s not being paid for by George Soros, as Congressman Matt Gaetz insinuated. There’s no evidence that it is infiltrated by unknown Middle Easterners, as Trump tweeted (before walking it back). Trump at times loosely talks as if the caravan is a Democratic conspiracy, which obviously isn’t true, either. But he gets the big point right: We have borders, and should enforce them.

Whatever Trump’s exaggerations, the caravan itself isn’t a fabrication. It started as a group of 160 people in Honduras. It quickly grew to 1,600. Guatemala tried to close its border to the migrants, but rapidly gave in. By the time the caravan reached the Mexican border, it had gathered about 3,000 people, and grew to as large as 7,000 as it crossed into Mexico.