Migrants push towards US border

MEXICO CITY: Thousands of Central American migrants set up tents and strung tarps at a stadium in the central Mexican city of Queretaro, where they arrived on Saturday afternoon after departing the country’s capital at dawn on their long trek to the US border.

Their day began with dedicated Mexico City metro trains whisking them to the outskirts of the capital. At the end of the metro line, migrants began making their way to the main highway to resume walking and hitching rides with the tacit approval of Mexican officials.

Near a major toll plaza about 30 kilometres north of the city, Mexico state police and human rights officials helped load men, women and children onto eighteen-wheelers and asked passing buses and trucks if they would carry migrants.

Maria Yesenia Perez, a 41-year-old who left La Ceiba, Honduras nearly a month ago with her 8-year-old daughter, said she was prepared to wait to gain entry at the US border.

“I decided to come (with the caravan) to help my family,” she said before she and her daughter were hoisted onto the back of a semitrailer.

Ms Perez is now one of roughly 4,000 migrants who proceeded to Queretaro — a state capital 200 kilometres northwest of Mexico City — and then possibly to Guadalajara, Culiacan, Hermosillo and eventually Tijuana on the US border.

Whereas migrants like her carried tiny knapsacks with bare essentials in Mexico’s tropical south, however, their belongings swelled noticeably after a multiday stop in Mexico City.

Many are now hauling bundles of blankets, sleeping bags and heavy clothing to protect against colder temperatures in the northern part of the country. Some left the capital with bottles of water and clear plastic bags of bananas and oranges for the long trek. Others were given juice and ham sandwiches from volunteers as they set out.

Astrid Daniela Aguilar, who was travelling with two cousins aged 3 and 4, lined up alongside the highway to await a chance at hitching a ride.

The caravan planned to leave Queretaro for Irapuato about 100 kilometres to the west at 5am local time yesterday.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has ordered the deployment of over 5,000 troops to fend off the migrants.