8 from Central American ‘caravan’ enter US

On a 3,200km journey from southern Mexico, convoy gathered 1,500 people at one point

Eight women and children from a Central American caravan entered US territory to seek asylum on Monday after a monthlong trail across Mexico that led President Donald Trump to demand changes in the law.

Carrying scant possessions, the asylum seekers walked through a door into the San Isidro port of entry on the bidding of a Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) officer.

The first to enter were part of a small group from the caravan who Mexican officials let walk over a pedestrian bridge on Sunday and who have been camped at the San Isidro gate ever since, when the CBP said the facility between Tijuana and San Diego was saturated.

A larger group of about 150 people has not been let onto the bridge and was preparing for a second night sleeping in an open plaza on the Mexican side.

Hoping they would also be let through to make their case, members of the group pumped fists and cheered when they heard some of their companions had crossed.

The caravan has been in the spotlight ever since it began a more than 3,200 kilometres journey from southern Mexico, gathering 1,500 people at one point, to the fury of Trump, who demanded that officials do not let such groups into the country.

His administration’s hands are tied, however, by international rules obliging the US to accept asylum applications. Despite Trump’s threats, earlier on Monday Vice-President Mike Pence admitted the members would be processed in line with the law.

Fleeing what they say are death threats, extortion and violence in neighbourhoods controlled by the powerful Mara street gangs, once in the US the asylum seekers must convince officials they have reason to fear returning home.