Caravan migrants apply for asylum

TIJUANA, Mexico — Central Americans who traveled in a caravan through Mexico to the border with San Diego began turning themselves in to U.S. authorities to seek asylum Monday in a direct challenge to the Trump administration.

Nearly 200 migrants, many traveling with children, decided to apply for protection at the nation’s busiest border crossing after many fled violence in their home countries, organizers said. After a monthlong journey across Mexico under the Trump administration’s watchful eye, the asylum seekers faced an unexpected twist Sunday when U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said San Diego’s San Ysidro border crossing facility had “reached capacity.”

Wendi Yaneri Garcia said she’s confident she will be released while her asylum case winds its way through the courts because she’s traveling alone with her 2-year-old son, who has been sick.

“All I want is a place where I can work and raise my son,” the 36-year-old said.

She said police in her hometown of Atlantida, Honduras, jailed her for protesting construction of a hydroelectric plant.