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A caravan of thousands of migrants clashed with Guatemalan authorities on Sunday while continuing to march towards the US border, according to reports.
Security forces used sticks to push back the migrant caravan, which left Honduras before the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.
Honduran migrants clash with Guatemalan soldiers in Vado Hondo, Guatemala, Sunday, January 17, 2021. Guatemalan authorities have estimated that as many as 9,000 Honduran migrants have entered Guatemala as part of an effort to form a new caravan for reach the American border. (AP Photo / Sandra Sebastian)
Estimates range from 6,000 to 8,000 migrants who entered Guatemala this weekend. In contrast, only around 3,000 Guatemalan officers gathered to hold back the caravan during Sunday morning’s clash, according to Reuters.
MIGRANT CARAVAN REQUIRES AN ADMINISTRATION THAT IS ‘HONOR OF ITS COMMITMENTS’
Several people were injured as the caravan tried to pass through the human barricade of the security forces. The authorities also used tear gas in an attempt to push back the train of people.
A Honduran migrant is taken in by Guatemalan soldiers after clashing with them in an attempt to reach the US border in Vado Hondo, Guatemala, Sunday, January 17, 2021. Guatemalan authorities have estimated that as many as 9,000 migrants Hondurans entered Guatemala as part of an effort to form a new caravan to reach the US border. (AP Photo / Sandra Sebastian)
Some have withdrawn, going so far as to flee to nearby mountains, the BBC reported.
“The message from Guatemala is strong and clear: these types of illegal mass movements will not be accepted, which is why we are working with neighboring countries to treat this as a regional problem,” the Guatemalan president’s office said of of the crisis.
Many believe the group was spurred on by Biden’s rhetoric, in which he vowed to end President Donald Trump’s tougher immigration policies.
BIDEN TRANSITION OFFICIAL SAYS MIGRANT CARAVANS: ‘THIS IS NOT THE TIME’ TO COME TO US
But on Sunday, an anonymous Biden transition official said migrants who hoped to seek asylum in the United States in the first weeks of the new administration “must understand that they will not be able to enter the United States immediately. “, NBC News reports.
Biden’s transition manager, however, warned migrants against arriving in the United States during the early days of the new administration, telling NBC that if “there is help on the way” , now is not the time to make the trip “.
“The situation at the border will not be transformed overnight,” the official told the media.
Mexico said the caravan will meet increased resistance.
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President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had promised Trump that he would stop undocumented immigrants, increasing attention and investment along Mexico’s southern border, according to Bloomberg.
Yael Halon of Fox News contributed to this report.
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