Pompeo warns of crisis as caravan pushes north
Police fire tear gas as migrants break Guatemalan fence
MEXICO CITY — As thousands of Central American migrants inched closer to Mexico’s southern border, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with top officials in Mexico, hoping to divert the caravan before it reaches the United States.
By Friday morning, at least 1,000 migrants had arrived in the city of Tecun Uman, in northern Guatemala, and by early afternoon, 3,000-plus migrants began walking across a bridge connecting the countries. A huge group waited to be processed by Mexican authorities, punctuated by moments of disorder, as police fired tear gas into the crowd.
“We are quickly reaching a point which appears to be a moment of crisis” with the flow of Central American migrants, Pompeo said in a joint appearance with Mexico’s foreign minister, Luis Videgaray.
Mexican authorities, in search of a way both to satisfy President Donald Trump’s demand that they deter the migrants and to avoid violating international law, have asked the United Nations to set up a migrant processing center near their southern border.
During the joint appearance Friday, Pompeo said: “The way you will handle this is your sovereign decision.”
But as Trump said at a rally Thursday that the midterm elections would hinge in part on the caravan, it was clear that U.S. pressure on Mexico would continue.
The members of the caravan appeared unlikely to wait for the United Nations.
On Friday, many migrants approached border crossings where Guatemalan police officers appeared prepared to block their passage, but by the early afternoon migrants broke through a fence on the Guatemalan side, forcing their way to the Mexican side of the bridge.
Mexican authorities used riot gear to dispel some of the migrants, telling them to be prepared to wait for processing.
In response to the deployment of Mexican pol i ce, Trump tweeted, “Thank you Mexico,” on Thursday, just hours after threatening to deploy the U.S. military and “close our southern border” — potentially upending a recent trade deal with Mexico and Canada.
His threats have kept pace with the migrants’ journey.
As they were passing though Guatemala, he threatened to withdraw aid from Central American nations if they did not stop the migrants. Paradoxically, much of that aid is used in programs aimed at deterring migration.
Speaking at the joint news conference, Videgaray said the Mexican government would enforce the country’s immigration laws, “in a humanitarian form, thinking first of the interest of the migrant.”