MIGRANT CARAVAN SWELLS, HEADS TO U.S. BORDER

Despite Mexican efforts to stop them at the border, a growing throng of Central American migrants resumed their advance toward the U.S. border early Sunday in southern Mexico.

Their numbers swelled to about 5,000 overnight and at first light they set out walking toward the Mexican town of Tapachula, 10 abreast in a line stretching approximately 1.5 kilometres.

It was not immediately clear where the additional travellers had materialized from since about 2,000 gathered on the Mexican side Saturday night.

At dawn there were still an estimated 1,500 migrants on the Guatemalan side hoping to enter legally.

The caravan elicited a series of angry tweets and warnings from U.S, President Donald Trump early in the week, but Mexico’s initial handling of the migrants at its southern border seemed to have satisfied him more recently.

“They’re not coming into this country,” Trump said.

PEDRO PARDO / AFP / GETTY IMAGES Thousands of migrants march toward the U.S. on the road linking Ciudad Hidalgo and Tapachula, Mexico, on Sunday.