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On Friday, the migrant caravan of at least 3,000 broke down gates at the Guatemalan border with Mexico and streamed toward a bridge to Mexico. (Oct. 19)
AP
epa07104769 Honduran migrants rest in the Tecun Uman’s park in Escuintla, Guatemala, 19 October 2018, before continue their way to Mexico. Migrants, who hope to arrive to the United States to seek better living conditions, slept in an open-air theater and in the Catholic church of Tecun Uman, a few kilometers from the Suchiate River, which divides Guatemala and Mexico, where a group of migrants has already started a new stage of the crossing. EPA-EFE/ESTEBAN BIBA ORG XMIT: GU502(Photo: ESTEBAN BIBA, EPA-EFE)
A caravan of U.S.-bound migrants broke down a border crossing Friday and streamed onto a bridge on Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala in the face of a heavy presence of Mexican and Guatemalan law enforcement officers, according to media reports.
The travelers — made up of 1,500 to 4,000 people mostly from Honduras — were eventually stopped on the river crossing, according to video broadcast by the U.S.-based Spanish-language network Telemundo.
Some members of the caravan became so desperate they jumped from the bridge, trying to grab onto one of the makeshift rafts other migrants were using to cross the river into Mexico.
“Unbelievable sight on Mexican border.. tear gas.. rocks being thrown … caravan wants to enter … not able to right now,” Tweeted Telemundo anchor José Díaz-Balart.
The network, which has reporters traveling with the caravan, showed Mexican police lined up along the fence holding it up against the waves of migrants trying to push past.
Caravan participants screamed that they were being fired upon with tear gas, but it was unclear from the video whether that was happening. Mexican officials have vowed not to harm or mistreat any of the migrants, but tensions were rising on Friday.
The group was on an early leg of a 1,100-mile sojourn to the U.S. border that President Donald Trump has made a key argument for his border policies in rallies leading into the midterm elections.
In a series of tweets this week, he angrily threatened to cut off aid to Central America and close the southern border with Mexico if their respective governments failed to deal with the situation.
The Associated Press initially reported that the thousands of migrants stopped about two blocks from the Guatemala-Mexican border crossing before turning around, saying they would wait another hour or so.
The border post, reports the AP, is guarded by a heavy security force and tall metal gates. Dozens of Mexican federal police officers are on the border bridge, with hundreds more behind them. In Guatemala, government authorities closed its border gate and are standing guard with dozens of troops and two armored jeeps.
Mexico’s ambassador to Guatemala says his country has decided to enforce a policy of “metered entry” since thousands of migrants are clamoring to cross, says the AP.
Mexican government officials were trying to enforce its immigration laws, treat the migrants in a humanitarian way and not further antagonize an unhappy White House.
The migration crisis at Mexico’s southern border is happening the same time Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is visiting with top Mexican government officials in Mexico City as part of a previously planned trip.
Pompeo met with Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Videgaray, who has proposed that Mexico work with the United Nations refugee agency to deal with the caravan of mostly Honduran migrants — who are fleeing poverty and violence — before they can make their way to the U.S.-Mexico border. The secretary of state is also scheduled to meet with incoming foreign relations secretary Marcelo Ebrard – who has been tapped to serve in the cabinet of president-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who takes office Dec. 1.
“This is a challenge that Mexico is dealing with, and I have expressed it to Secretary Pompeo. We are a sovereign country. The migratory policy of Mexico is expressed by Mexico,” Videgaray said in a joint statement with Pompeo.
“We have the rule of law, and we will apply the law, but we will also deal with the caravan in a humanitarian way.”
For his part, Pompeo said, “We are currently reaching a point that appears to be a moment of crisis — a record number of migrants.
“The challenge related to security for our southern border is also a challenge for American sovereignty. We have to fix US laws in order to handle this properly as well. …President Trump has said it’s something we need to address inside our country to make sure we do this well. If we get this well, we will improve the relationship between our two countries materially as well.”
The mass of migrants arrived in the Guatemalan border town of Tecún Umán, where they slept on the streets and in a park and prepared Friday to cross the Suchiate River – which separates Mexico and Guatemala – and head northward to the U.S. border. Such migrant caravans are not uncommon as those heading north seek safety in numbers as the road through Mexico is rife with risks such as kidnap, rape and extortion.
A caravan of more than 1,500 Honduran migrants moves north after crossing the border from Honduras into Guatemala on Oct. 15, 2018 in Esquipulas, Guatemala. (Photo: John Moore, Getty Images)
Mexico has said only those with the proper papers will be allowed entry into the country and has dispatched two planeloads of Federal Police officers to the area –which is often so neglected that migrants simply float across the river in rafts into Mexico without having to clear customs.
A top Mexican official said his government will ask the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to help identify “legitimate” asylum claims from the migrants who are part of the caravan.
More: Trump administration supports Mexico, UN plan to deal with caravan of migrants
Some in Mexico have questioned if the plan to accept so many asylum applications would work, given the current backlog of claims and slow processing times.
Mexico has received a crush of asylum claims in recent years as many Central Americans consider Mexico a destination country or prefer to not risk crossing an increasingly fortified U.S. border. The country accepted 14,596 claims in 2017, more than six times the number of applications it received in 2104. In February, the National Human Rights Commission warned of the “pending collapse of the refugee protection system in Mexico” as half of all claims were still unprocessed.
Under the Mexican government’s plan, those migrants whose asylum claims get rejected would be immediately repatriated to Honduras and other countries, Gerónimo Gutiérrez, the Mexican Ambassador to the U.S., told Fox News’ “Special Report” in an interview Thursday.
“We want to make sure that those claims are legitimate,” he said, noting a handful of migrants had already applied for asylum in Mexico.
“We want to make sure that those claims are legitimate,” he said, noting a handful of migrants had already applied for asylum in Mexico.
The Mexican government warned caravan participants “of grave risks” by illegally entering Mexico, including, “the presence of human trafficking networks.” Migrants transiting Mexico are often preyed upon by police and criminal gangs and suffer indignities such as kidnap, rape and extortion.
Dissuading migrants from making northbound trips is difficult, however, as the risks often outweigh remaining in the country.
“The majority of people we’re seeing [leave] from El Salvador and Honduras, principally, it’s still very much still due to the violence,” said Rick Jones, youth and migration adviser at Catholic Relief Services in El Salvador.
Both Videgaray and Ebrard called development in Central America the solution to stopping Central American emigration.
In his successful campaign, López Obrador said, “We’re not going to do the dirty work of any foreign government.” Earlier this week, he said his administration would provide Central Americans with work visas and said development in the region was necessary to stop people from leaving.
Ebrard, the incoming foreign minister, said Mexico couldn’t let the caravan through, although he noted to Mexican media that “Trump is making a political calculus” given next month’s midterm elections.
The U.S. government provides Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador with foreign assistance of $1.1 billion, according to the Washington Office on Latin America. Homicide rates have topped 80 per 100,000 residents in recent years, but fallen of late.
Corruption is rife, however. Guatemala President Jimmy Morales and several family members are accused of corruption – and subsequently moved to end the work of a UN anti-impunity commission, which has gone after members of the country’s political class.
Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández’s National Party is accused of receiving money embezzled from the country’s social security institution for his 2013 campaign and won a disputed 2017 election after which he sent the police to repress protesters. The U.S.’s recently muted reactions to corruption and human abuses in Central America has left some observers questioning if it’s aggravating an already serious situation, which has led to outward migration.
“You have alleged $100 million-plus corruption scandals in each country with little evidence the governing elites have changed in anyway,” said Mike Allison, an expert in Central American politics at the University of Scranton. “The U.S. should be more concerned about what message that sends.”
More: Trump claims Democrats wanted caravan, ups immigration rhetoric ahead of western swing
More: Trump: Aid will end to Central American countries allowing migrant caravan to head to US
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