Honduras: First migrant caravans of 2021 depart for US

Several hundred people have begun a journey of housands of kilometers through Central America to the US. The migrants are hoping for a more humane approach to migration under President-elect Joe Biden.

Hundreds of nationals of Central American countries have departed the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula as part of a migrant caravan planning to walk to the United States.

The first group of some 300 people set out on Thursday, with most wearing masks to help protect against the coronavirus.

Social media pages suggested that many more were planning to leave during nightfall into Friday, heading for the border with Guatemala, some 260 kilometers (160 miles) away.

Up to 3,500 set to leave

The charity Movimiento Migrante Mesoamericano tweeted that some 3,500 migrants had gathered in the city on Thursday evening. Local media put the

number at around 1,500.

The migrants say they are escaping poverty, unemployment, and gang and drug violence, as well as the aftermath of two violent hurricanes that hit the country last November.

But Washington has warned the migrants against making the journey, especially at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

"This is a deadly journey — the US Border Patrol recovered more than 250 bodies along the US-Mexico border last

fiscal year," Mark Morgan, acting Commissioner of the US Customs and Border Protection, said in a statement last week.

He told the migrants not to "waste your time and money" and said the caravaners could potentially spread COVID-19 on their journey.

State of emergency declared

Honduras' neighbor Guatemala — together with Mexico — has an agreement with the US to stop north-bound migratory flows.

On Thursday, it declared a state of emergency in seven departments as the amassing continued, to limit prevent demonstrations and to allow police to use force, if necessary.

Mexico also deployed agents to its southern border on Thursday.

The caravans will be the first of the year and set off less than a week before US President-elect Joe Biden takes office.

Biden, who is due to be inaugurated on Wednesday, has pledged a more humane approach to migration — a departure from outgoing President Donald Trump's hardline antiimmigrant policies.

The twice-impeached president has characterized immigrants from Mexico as "rapists" who were "bringing drugs" and other criminal activity with them to the US.

No money for COVID tests

If the group reaches the border this time, they will have to show negative tests for

COVID-19 in order to pass, which would not be possible for most of them.

More than a dozen migrant caravans have set off from Honduras since October 2018 — at least four of them with 3,000 people each. But all have run up against thousands of US border guards and soldiers.

The Trump administration has since reached agreements with Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador where migrants heading to the US must claim asylum in one of those countries.

Otherwise, they can be sent back when they reach the US border.

mm/rt (AFP, dpa, Reuters)

Hondurans are fleeing violence, poverty and the fallout from two devastating hurricanes in November

Hondurans rest outside a bus station before taking part in a new caravan of migrants