Migrants tell Trump asylum ‘is a right’

MEXICO: The remnants of a caravan of Central American migrants protested in northern Mexico yesterday, even as once again they drew angry tweets from United States President Donald Trump.

The migrants are demanding better treatment, and many are planning to request asylum, in either the US or Mexico.

‘‘We are asking the government and migration authorities to respect the right to seek asylum,’’ said caravan organiser Irineo Mujica.

‘‘Those who request asylum shouldn’t be criminalised. It is a right . . . families shouldn’t be separated or punished.’’

The approximately 600 migrants arrived in the northern city of Hermosillo aboard trains over the weekend.

Mujica has said the migrants plan to arrive in Tijuana later this week.

Trump tweeted yesterday that ‘‘I have instructed the Secretary of Homeland Security not to let these large Caravans of people into our Country’’.

‘‘Mexico, whose laws on immigration are very tough, must stop people from going through Mexico and into the US. We may make this a condition of the new Nafta Agreement,’’ Trump tweeted.

In response, Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs Luis Videgaray tweeted: ‘‘It would be unacceptable to condition the Nafta negotiations on immigration actions that are outside that framework.

‘‘Mexico decides its own immigration policy in a sovereign manner, and Mexico’s co-operation on immigration matters with the United States occurs because Mexico considers it in its own interest,’’ Videgaray wrote.

Many of the migrants say they are fleeing gang violence and extortion in Honduras and El Salvador. –AP