Hundreds of migrants set out from Honduras, dreaming of US

SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras (AP) — A few hundred Honduran migrants set out for the Guatemalan border before dawn Tuesday in hopes of eventually reaching the United States — though all other recent caravans have been broken up far short of that goal.

Young men and women, as well as families toting small children, walked along a busy six-lane road heading out of San Pedro Sula. They strung out into small groups with many hitching rides toward the border crossing at Corinto.

Calls to form a new migrant caravan had circulated for days, but the turnout was smaller than one that formed January. That caravan, which grew to a few thousand migrants, was eventually dissolved by authorities in Guatemalan using tear gas and riot shields.

The Guatemalan and Mexican governments have taken a harder line against such caravans in recent times under pressure from the United States.

The large traveling groups, however, represent only a fraction of the regular daily migration flows, which typically go relatively unnoticed. Mexico last week began restricting crossings at its southern border to essential travel and stepped up operations to intercept migrants, especially families, in the south.

There has been hope among migrants that the administration of President Joe Biden would take a more compassionate view of them, but White House officials have tried for months to make it clear that the U.S. border is closed.