Migrants held in Mexico factory
PIEDRAS NEGRAS, Mexico — A caravan of 1,600 Central American migrants is surrounded by Mexican authorities in an old factory a short distance from Texas, where they hope to seek asylum but appear to have a faint chance.
The migrants arrived on buses Monday in Piedras Negras, Mexico, across the Rio Grande from Eagle Pass, Texas. The caravan is the first in recent months to head toward Texas instead of California.
President Donald Trump in his State of the Union speech Tuesday accused Mexican cities of busing migrants to the border “to bring them up to our country in areas where there is little border protection.”
The government of the northern border state of Coahuila said it organized 49 buses from the interior cities of Saltillo and Arteaga to ensure the migrants’ safety. Coahuila has long been plagued by the nowfragmented Zetas cartel as well as by cold weather.
“These types of caravans have been victims of organized crime groups that try to force the migrants to work for them,” said Jose Maria Fraustro, the state’s interior secretary.
EU rep rebukes Brexiteers
BRUSSELS — European Council President Donald Tusk took a swipe Wednesday at some Brexit-backers in Britain, wondering aloud what “special place in hell” might be reserved for those who had no idea how to deliver the country’s exit from the European Union.
With less than two months to go until Britain is due to leave the EU and concern mounting about a potentially chaotic departure, Mr. Tusk, who chairs meetings of EU leaders, also appeared to dash any British hopes that the bloc would reopen discussions over the Brexit deal.
“I have been wondering what a special place in hell looks like for those who promoted Brexit without even a sketch of plan how to carry it out safely,” Mr. Tusk told reporters after talks with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar.
As the men shook hands, Mr. Varadkar told Mr. Tusk “they will give you terrible trouble in the British press” over the comments — which, as predicted, drew outrage from British Brexiteers.
House of Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom, a pro-Brexit Conservative, said Mr. Tusk’s remark was “pretty unacceptable and pretty disgraceful . ... it totally demeans him.”
Sammy Wilson of Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party tweeted that Mr. Tusk was a “devilish euro maniac ... doing his best to keep the United Kingdom bound by the chains of EU bureaucracy and control.”
U.S. trims Cameroon aid
The U.S. is scaling back its security assistance to Cameroon following credible allegations that the Cameroonian military carried out human rights violations in the Central African country, the State Department said Wednesday.
Cameroon is a key U.S. security partner, and about 300 U.S. troops are based there to train and assist the Cameroonian military, including in its fight against extremism.
Members of the Rapid Intervention Battalion, or BIR, an elite force, have been accused of burning down civilians’ homes and executing a pregnant woman. The Cameroonian military denied targeting civilians.