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US Marines and 7th Engineer Support Battalion, Special Purpose Air-Landed Naval Maneuver Force 7, prepare to place accordion wire at Otay Mesa Port of Entry in San Diego, California, USA, November 10 2018. Sgt. Rubin J. Tan / Document via REUTERSReuters
TIJUANA (Reuters) – Hundreds of Central American migrants planning to seek asylum in the United States traveled to the Mexican border on Tuesday, as the US military tightened security measures, putting up iron wire barbed wire and erecting barricades.
Some 400 migrants who separated from the main caravan in Mexico City arrived Tuesday in the border town of Tijuana by bus, according to a Reuters witness. Larger groups are expected to arrive in the coming days, said human rights organizations.
US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis announced that he would travel to the border region on Wednesday. It was his first visit since the army announced more than 7,000 US troops would visit the region, the caravan made up mostly of Hondurans crossing Mexico.
The US Department of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced in a statement that it would close the crossing routes from San Ysidro to Otay Mesa from Tijuana in order to allow the Ministry of Defense to install barbed wire and set up barricades and fences. Tijuana, in the Mexican state of Baja California, is located at the western end of the border, about 38 km from San Diego, California.
"CBP is prepared and will continue to prepare for the potential arrival of thousands of people who migrate in a caravan heading to the US border," said Pete Flores, Director of Operations for the United States. the agency in San Diego, citing in a statement a "potential risk to safety and security".
The administration of US President Donald Trump strongly opposed the caravan, which began its northern trip on October 13 and briefly ran into security forces in southern Mexico.
On Friday, Trump signed a decree suspending the granting of asylum to those who cross the border illegally, which could significantly slow down the demands at the gateways.
But migrants planning to seek asylum in the United States said they were not discouraged by the crackdown.
"I'd rather be in detention in the United States than go back to my country, where I know they're going to kill me to be different," said Nelvin Mejía, a transgender woman who arrived in Tijuana on Monday with a group about 70 people looking for asylum. "Last month, they killed my partner and I do not want to finish like this."
For years, thousands of mainly Central American immigrants have made long trips to Central America and Mexico to travel to the United States. Many of them die during this attempt or are kidnapped by organized crime groups.
Several thousand migrants belonging to at least three groups of caravans cross Mexico towards the border.
(Report by Lizbeth Diaz, written by Julia Love, edited by Rosalba O & # 39; Brien)
Copyright 2018 Thomson Reuters.
