Mexican agents nibble at edges of migrant caravans

JUCHITAN, MEXICO >> Thousands of Central American migrants resumed their slow trek through southern Mexico on Thursday, as immigration agents and police nibbled at the edges of the two caravans currently in the country.

Mexican authorities haven’t directly targeted the main caravan of about 4,000 migrants, and activists aiding that group said they were shifting their route toward the Gulf coast, a path closer to the Texas border.

But a second, smaller caravan about 200 miles behind the first group appeared to be more leaderless, get less press attention and be more vulnerable.

A federal official who was not authorized to be quoted by name said 153 migrants in the second caravan were detained Wednesday during highway inspections in the southern state of Chiapas, a short distance from the Guatemalan border. While the precise size of the second caravan is unclear, that could be equivalent to about 10 percent of those participating.

And there was also pressure on the first caravan, which set out before dawn Thursday from Juchitan, Oaxaca, seeking to reach the town of Matias Romero, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) ahead.

They had tried to arrange bus transport from Juchitan, but failed, leaving them once again on foot, hitch-hiking and looking for rides where they can find them.

But federal police began pulling freight trucks over and forcing migrants off, saying their habit of clinging to the tops or sides of the trucks was dangerous.

“Get off! Get off!” police officer Benjamin Grajeda shouted to a group of migrants clinging to the side of a truck outside Juchitan. “You can ride inside, but not on the outside.”

At other points along the route, police have forced overloaded pickups to disgorge migrants. On previous days, they have ordered passenger vans to stop transporting migrants.

The migrants have not said what route they intend to take northward or where on the U.S. border they planned to reach.

While Matias Romero would carry them toward the Gulf coast city of Veracruz and a route toward the Texas border, another large caravan early this year passed through Veracruz and then veered back toward Mexico City and eventually tried to head to Tijuana in the far northwest. Few made it.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Wednesday praised Mexico for stopping the migrants from getting rides. “Mexico has stepped up in an unprecedented way,” Sanders told Fox News. “They have helped stop a lot of the transportation means of these individuals in these caravans, forcing them walking. They have helped us in new ways to slow this down, to break this up and keep it from moving as aggressively toward the United States.”