Caravan finally reaches U.S. border
TIJUANA, Mexico — About 130 Central Americans, mostly women and children, have arrived at the U.S. border with Mexico in a “caravan” of asylum-seeking immigrants that has drawn the fury of President Trump.
Two busloads arrived late Tuesday in the Mexican border city of Tijuana at two migrant shelters just steps from one of the most fortified stretches of border separating the U.S. from Mexico. They joined another 50 or so who arrived in Tijuana over the past week or two.
Four more busloads of about 200 Central Americans — mostly women and children but including some men — were expected to arrive in Tijuana Wednesday, said Alex Mensing, project coordinator for Pueblos Sin Fronteras, which is organizing the effort.
U.S. lawyers planned to lead clinics later this week on U.S. asylum law to tell the immigrants what to expect when they seek asylum. The first groups plan to try to enter the U.S. on Sunday at San Diego’s border crossing.
Trump and senior aides have portrayed the caravans and the asylum seekers as evidence of a dysfunctional border and a serious threat. The president tweeted this week that he has issued orders “not to let these large Caravans of people into our Country. It is a disgrace.”
The caravans have been a fairly common tactic for years among advocacy groups to bring attention to Central American citizens seeking asylum in the U.S. to escape political persecution or criminal threats from gangs.
But the latest one drew more attention because of Trump’s comments from almost the moment it began March 25 in the Mexican city of Tapachula, near the Guatemalan border. And while it slowly traveled across Mexico, Trump used it as an example to try to win more support for his planned border wall — even though the asylumseekers plan to turn themselves in to border inspectors.