Mexico readies for arrival of next migrant caravan

MEXICO CITY: The authorities will meet Central American officials to prepare for the arrival of a new caravan of migrants headed to the United States next week.

The head of Mexico’s immigration office, Tonatiuh Guillen, left on Wednesday on a trip to El Salvador and Honduras to meet his counterparts and other authorities, said Interior Ministry spokesman Hector Gandini.

Mexico hopes to discourage a mass exodus from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, and wants Central Americans migrating north to do so orderly and through legal ports of entry.

“The doors to Mexico are open to anyone who wants to enter in an orderly fashion,” Gandini said in a telephone interview.

“But whoever wants to come in illegally will be deported.”

Previous Central American caravans became a flashpoint in the debate over US immigration policy. That was intensified by the recent deaths of two migrant children in US custody and a partial US government shutdown over US President Donald Trump’s demand for US$5.7 billion (RM23.3 billion) in funding for a wall along the border with Mexico.

There are 12 legal ports of entry for Central Americans on Mexico’s southern border, but Mexican authorities had identified 370 illegal points of entry on that frontier, Interior Minister Olga Sanchez had said.