What started as a group of 160 Honduran migrants walking north across Central America hoping to reach the United States, has now swelled to a crowd of more than 3,000 people and the situation is growing dire.
The caravan of migrants, who are mostly from Honduras, arrived at the Mexico border Friday night, only to be halted by dozens of Mexican police in riot gear. Many tried to burst through the guards, or retreated into the water or climbed over a steel gate. Mexican police retaliated and police threw tear gas and smoke canisters into the screaming crowd.
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Trump has also repeatedly lashed out about the migrants, who are hoping to reach the U.S.-Mexico border. He tweeted Thursday that he may call up the military to “CLOSE OUR SOUTHERN BORDER!”
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According to the Guardian, around 160 people left the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula on Oct. 13. The city is known as one of the most violent cities in the world due to gang violence and government corruption. The group included dozens of families with infants and children who hope travelling in numbers will reduce the risk posed by criminal gangs that prey on vulnerable migrants.
Jari Dixon, a Honduran congressman, tweeted: “They are not seeking the American dream — they’re fleeing the Honduran nightmare.”
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When the caravan of migrants reached the Guatemalan border on Monday, the numbers of people swelled to at least 1,600, the Guardian reported.
Many were singing the Honduran national anthem and chanting, “Yes, we can,” as the group trekked north towards Mexico.
Trump demanded the Honduran government stop the caravan and take back its citizens. “The United States has strongly informed the President of Honduras that if the large Caravan of people heading to the U.S. is not stopped and brought back to Honduras, no more money or aid will be given to Honduras, effective immediately!” he tweeted.
Migrants have banded together to travel en masse regularly in recent years, but this caravan was unusual for its huge size, Victor Clark Alfaro, a Latin American studies professor at San Diego State University, told the Associated Press. By comparison, a caravan in April that also attracted Trump’s ire numbered about 1,000.
“It grabs one’s attention that the number of people in these kinds of caravans is on the rise,” Alfaro said. “It is migration of a different dimension.”
On Friday, the caravan of a reported 4,000 migrants reached the Guatemalan-Mexico border. Many burst through a Guatemalan border fence and rushed onto the bridge over the Suchiate River, defying Mexican authorities’ demand for an orderly crossing.
They were met with riot shields on the Mexican side of the bridge. About 50 managed to push their way through before officers unleashed pepper spray and the rest retreated, joining the massive crowd on the bridge.
Police and immigration agents began letting small groups of 10, 20 or 30 people through the gates if they wanted to apply for refugee status. Mexico’s government said migrants with proper documents could enter the country and those who don’t either have to apply for refugee status or face deportation.
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Many of the migrants had slept through heavy rain overnight on a bridge connecting Guatemala to Mexico, as dozens crammed against a metal border gate guarded by Mexican police. Some stretched towels and garbage bags along the bridge walls, others lay down on backpacks, while one man applied lotion to his tired feet.
Some migrants, tired of waiting, jumped off the bridge into the Suchiate River on Friday. Migrants organized a rope brigade to ford its muddy waters, and some floated across on rafts operated by local residents who usually charge a dollar or two to make the crossing.
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On Saturday, Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales said around 2,000 members of a largely Honduran migrant caravan returned home to Honduras.
About 1,000 migrants still remain on the bridge between Guatemala and Mexico.
Selvin Flores, a 35-year-old shopkeeper from Honduras told the Associated Press that the people who “were causing disorder” have been expelled from the group and handed over to Guatemalan police. He said the remaining migrants “do not want misunderstandings.”
Flores has three children and says that he sometimes skips meals to ensure that they eat.
He said he wants to reach the U.S. to work and save money before returning to Honduras. He says it’s painful for him to leave his country but he did it “out of necessity.”
— With files from the Associated Press and Reuters
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