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DONAJI, Mexico (AP) – While President Donald Trump intensified his anti-immigration rhetoric ahead of Tuesday's midterm elections, exhausted Central Americans crossing Mexico in the hope of reaching the United States United states that they were mostly perplexed and repelled by his threats. they perceive it as exaggerated.
The US president spent the last days of the campaign tackling the problem as he tried to boost Republican voters. Its favorite target is the migrant caravan of nearly 4,000 people more than 800 miles from the nearest US border. Three smaller ones follow behind.
Trump's recent statements indicate that he plans to sign an order that could lead to the detention of migrants crossing the southern border and forbidding anyone illegally taken the right to apply for asylum. Both proposals are legally dubious. Trump also said that he had told the US Army mobilized at the Southwest border that if US troops were confronted with migrants who were throwing stones, they should react as if they were "guns" ".
"It 's pure ignorance for him to think so," said Marta Cuellos, a 40 – year – old native of Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital. "A rock is not the same as a rifle."
While some migrants have clashed with the Mexican police on a bridge at the Guatemalan border, most of those traveling with caravans are peaceful and claim to flee violence and poverty at home. Those traveling Friday in the state of Oaxaca, in the south of the country, said that they were not looking for trouble.
Cuellos said that she owned a cantina at her home in Honduras but that she had left her because she could no longer pay rent and that she was being harbaded by the police . She persuaded her 35-year-old sister to join her for the trip and said the only thing they wanted was a job and a better life in the United States. This is his second attempt. She first arrived in the United States seven years ago, but was deported last year.
Enrique, a Central American immigrant, watches the news of Honduras on his cell phone, with his son Ian on his back, while he is resting for the night in an abandoned hotel in Matias Romero, in the state of Benin. Oaxaca, Mexico, on Thursday, November 1, 2018. Thousands of migrants arrived in the town of Matias Romero after a grueling 65 km trek from Juchitan, Oaxaca, where they failed to secure the bus transportation that they hoped for. (AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd)
Selvin Maldonado, a 25-year-old resident of Copan, Honduras, said he left his wife and baby daughter at home looking for a better life to support his children. He took with him his 5 year old son, Dennys.
"What Trump said is stupid," Maldonado said as he headed for the city of Donaji. "I do not want to attack the police, because what concerns me, it's my son."
Migrants were also frustrated by the characterization of the slow-moving caravan by the US president and the next three smaller ones as "an invasion". Trump proposed to detain migrants in many tent cities at the border.
"We are not killers," said Stephany Lopez, a 21-year-old Salvadoran with the first caravan. "We just want to work for a few years and after that, he can deport us if he wants."
Lopez noted that the president's mother, born in Scotland, was an immigrant.
"He should think of us as equals – immigrants built this country," she said.
In June, US Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that domestic violence and gangs would no longer be widely accepted as reasons for migrants to be granted asylum. Trump said this week that members of the caravan would not benefit from asylum – although US law gives them the right to apply – and warned them to turn around.
The fierce opposition and harsh rhetoric of the Trump administration have at least some of them in the caravan.
Tifany Morandis, 19, was traveling with her husband, Javier Sanchez, 28, and their two sons, Angel, 7, and César, 9 months old. With her nose and face burnt by the sun after many days on the road, she says she is very tired and plans to stop in Tijuana, the Mexican border town in front of San Diego.
"Donald Trump has made things very complicated at the border and it's better to stay in Tijuana than to fight with him," Morandis said.
But many are optimistic. "Even stones can soften," said Cuellos.
Migrants carry a friend in an ambulance after a heat stroke at an abandoned hotel in Matias Romero, Oaxaca, Mexico, on Thursday, November 1, 2018. Thousands of migrants have arrived in the city. Matias Romero town after an exhausting (65 km) Juchitan trek, Oaxaca, where they failed to get the bus transportation they hoped for. (AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd)
Central American migrants, members of the caravan hoping to reach the US border, are transported in a truck in Donaji, Oaxaca, Mexico, on Friday, November 2, 2018. Migrants had already traveled 40 miles (65-kilometer) from Juchitan, Oaxaca, Thursday, after they failed to get the bus ride they hoped for. But hitch rides allowed them to arrive early in Donaji, and some headed for a city further north, Sayula. (AP Photo / Marco Ugarte)
Luz Padilla Valverde, a Honduran migrant who carries her child, claims a contribution of a peso (5 cents) pbaders-by, while a caravan of thousands of Central Americans hoping to reach the US border s & # 39; Arrest for the night at Matias Romero, in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico, Thursday, November 1, 2018. Most of the main caravan of migrants from Central America spent a rainy night at outside, before continuing its slow march in southern Mexico. (AP Photo / Rebecca Blackwell)
Central American migrants, members of the caravan hoping to reach the US border, were traveling by truck to Donaji, Oaxaca, Mexico, on Friday, November 2, 2018. The migrants had already traveled 40 miles ( 65- one kilometer) from Juchitan, Oaxaca, Thursday, after they failed to get the bus ride they hoped for. But hitch rides allowed them to arrive early in Donaji, and some headed for a city further north, Sayula. (AP Photo / Marco Ugarte)
Salvadoran migrants cross the Suchiate, the border between Guatemala and Mexico, Friday, November 2, 2018. A new group of migrants from Central America began to head north with the stated goal of becoming return to the United States. The third caravan attempted to cross the bridge between Guatemala and Mexico, but the Mexican authorities told them that they should show their pbadports and visas and enter in groups of 50 to be processed. Salvadorans feared to be deported, so they turned around and crossed a shallow stretch of the river to enter Mexico. (AP Photo / Oscar Rivera)
Salvadoran migrants cross the Suchiate, the border between Guatemala and Mexico, Friday, November 2, 2018. A new group of migrants from Central America began to head north with the stated goal of becoming return to the United States. The new caravan attempted to cross the bridge between Guatemala and Mexico, but the Mexican authorities told them that they should show their pbadports and visas and enter in groups of 50 to be processed. Salvadorans feared to be deported, so they turned around and crossed a shallow stretch of the river to enter Mexico. (AP Photo / Diana Ulloa)
Honduran migrants, who are part of the caravan of thousands of Central American migrants hoping to reach the United States, are resting in an abandoned hotel in Matias Romero, in the state of Oaxaca, at Mexico, Thursday, November 1, 2018. Thousands of migrants arrived in the town of Matias Romero after a grueling 40-mile (65 km) trek from Juchitan, Oaxaca, where they failed to obtain bus they had hoped. (AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd)
Salvadoran migrants cross the Suchiate, the border between Guatemala and Mexico, Friday, November 2, 2018. A new group of migrants from Central America began to head north with the stated goal of becoming return to the United States. The new caravan attempted to cross the bridge between Guatemala and Mexico, but the Mexican authorities told them that they should show their pbadports and visas and enter in groups of 50 to be processed. Salvadorans feared to be deported, so they turned around and crossed a shallow stretch of the river to enter Mexico. (AP Photo / Diana Ulloa)
Central American migrants, some of whom are hoping to reach the US border, are being hitched to Donaji, Oaxaca, Mexico, on Friday, November 2, 2018. The migrants had Already traveled 40 miles (After failing to get the bus that they hoped for on Thursday, a 65-km walk was organized from Juchitan, Oaxaca, but hitch-rides allowed them to arrive early in Donaji, and some headed to a city further north, Sayula. (AP Photo / Marco Ugarte)
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