2nd caravan vs. cops
Mex. tries to stop wave of immigs at southern border
Several hundred migrants tried to cross the Suchiate River from Guatemala to Mexico en masse on Monday, but were met by ranks of Mexican federal police who blocked them from entering.
The standoff on the riverbank follow a more violent confrontation that occurred on the nearby bridge over the river the night before, when migrants tossed rocks and used sticks against Mexican police. One migrant was killed Sunday night by a head wound, but the cause was unclear.
While migrants on the bridge had appeared to be preparing for a second day of confrontations early Monday, instead they tried the route taken by the first caravan 10 days ago after it, too, was blocked — turning to the river below.
The first, larger caravan made it across the river by wading or on rafts, and now is advancing through southern Mexico.
But since that crossing, the Mexican navy has begun patrolling the Suchiate River, and a Mexican helicopter hovered above several hundred migrants who had waded across the chest-high river Monday, apparently using the downdraft from its rotors to discourage them.
More than 5,200 U.S. troops will be deployed to the country's southwest border by the end of this week, military officials announced Monday, as President Trump continued to thump his chest at the migrants as the midterm election nears.
The massive deployment will add to the already 2,092 National Guard members sent to the border by Trump earlier this year, said Gen. Terrence O'Shaughnessy, the chief of U.S. Northern Command.
Meanwhile, some of the migrants in the initial caravan, now estimated at 4,000 people, began walking, and increasingly riding, from Tapanatepec, to Santiago Niltepec, 33 miles to the northwest.