Migrant caravan continues north, defying US and Mexico
MOST MIGRANTS ON THE MOVE CROSSED MEXICO-GUATEMALA BORDER ILLEGALLY IN RECENT DAYS
In open defiance of the Mexican and US governments, thousands of Central American migrants, most of a caravan that has been heading toward the United States for more than a week, resumed their journey on Sunday in southern Mexico.
The Mexican government, which has been under pressure by President Donald Trump to stop the caravan, had ordered the migrants to submit to processing by the immigration authorities at a legal border crossing.
But thousands chose instead to move on — part of a group of people who had been stopped at the Mexican border last week after having travelled for several days, most from their homes in Honduras.
Most of the migrants on the move on Sunday — by one local government estimate more than 7,000 people — had crossed the border illegally in recent days by swimming or rafting across the Suchiate River, which separates Guatemala from Mexico.
Undocumented status
They gathered in the central square in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Hidalgo on Saturday and voted by a show of hands to continue their journey north despite their undocumented status.
“We want to get to the United States,” said Maria Irias Rodriguez, 17, a migrant from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, who was travelling with her 8-month-old daughter, 2-year-old son and husband. “If they stop us now, we’ll just come back a second time.”
She said she had waited at the border until mid-Saturday but became desperate at how long it was taking to be processed.
On Sunday afternoon, Trump took to Twitter again to address the caravan, saying that those migrants seeking asylum must first apply in Mexico.
“If they fail to do that, the US will turn them away,” he said.
But Mexican officials have said migrants seeking asylum are under no legal obligation to apply in Mexico.
Under a proposed bilateral agreement that the Trump administration has discussed with Mexican officials, US border officials would be able to legally turn back asylum seekers who first pass through Mexico, forcing them to seek protection south of the border.