Migrant groups arrive by the hundreds at US border
TIJUANA (AP) — Migrants in a caravan of Central Americans arrived in Tijuana by the hundreds on Wednesday, getting their first glimpse of the robust United States military presence that awaits them after President Donald Trump ordered thousands of troops to the border.
Several hundred people from the caravan got off buses and made their way to a shelter on the Mexican side near the border to line up for food. Doctors checked those fighting colds and other ailments while several dozen migrants, mostly single men, spent the night at a Tijuana beach that is cut by a towering border wall of metal bars.
Several Border Patrol agents in San Diego watched them through the barrier separating the US and Mexico.
The first wave of migrants in the caravan, which became a central theme of the recent US election, began arriving in Tijuana in recent days, and their numbers have grown each day.
The bulk of the main caravan appeared to be about 1,100 miles from the border, but has recently been moving hundreds of miles a day by hitching rides on trucks and buses.
Many of the new arrivals were waiting in Tijuana for the caravan leaders to arrive and provide guidance on their immigration options to the US, including seeking asylum. Some said they might cross illegally.
US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, meanwhile, visited US troops posted at the border in Texas and said the deployment provides good training for war, despite criticism that the effort is a waste of taxpayer money and a political stunt. Most of the troops are in Texas, more than 1,500 miles from where the caravan is arriving.