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HUIXTLA, Mexico-A caravan of thousands of Honduran migrants took down makeshift tents in this southern nation and set off before their long journey to the US, as they made their way across Guatemala with the same goal.
The migrants are part of a surge in migration from Honduras in recent weeks as growing numbers of people joining the caravans that allow them to travel safely together and avoid paying smugglers' fees. The caravans have become a hot political issue in the United States ahead of midterm elections, as President Trump calls them a national emergency and tries to cast Democrats as weak on border security.
The Huixtla group departed from San Pedro Sula, Honduras, on Oct. 12, and had marched some 500 miles to Mexico City's Southern Chiapas state, an average of about 40 miles a day, both by foot and hitching rides from trucks and cars. Their closest entry point, McAllen, Texas, 1,000 miles away, would be more likely to reach their current pace.
President Trump said the U.S. will end up helping Central Americans migrate towards the U.S. border. The WSJ's Gerald F. Seib gives reason why this might be counterproductive. Photo: Getty
Guatemala en route to the U.S. Father Mauro Verzeletti, the director of a Scalabrinian Missionary-run shelter in Guatemala City where there are 11,500 migrants. Others say there are fewer. Mexico's government said on Tuesday that 1,700 migrants have filed asylum applications.
Father Verzeletti said some migrants were traveling in large groups and others in smaller ones. He said many migrants are now heading to border crossings in the Guatemala's thick jungle Petén jungle, which he said not to be protected by migration and migration agents from Mexico and Guatemala. That road leads to migrant shelters in Tenosique, a city in Mexico's Tabasco state.
"This is a massive phenomenon. It has no precedent in the history of Central America, "Father Verzeletti added.
The Tenosique shelter, which has a capacity of about 200 people, is currently sheltering 440 migrants, said an international migration worker.
In Huixtla, meanwhile, the caravan of what was said to be 6,000 people departing after spending a day in this town to recover from their grueling, 12-day journey so far in better life.
A long line of young people walking along the road and walking along the road. On the road, local churches and volunteer groups.
Standing by the side of the road, Alejandro García, 22, a fruit seller from the capital Honduran, Tegucigalpa, carried his 1-year-old daughter Eilly in a bag as he tried to hail a ride. Mr. García said he left Honduras because extortion payments to gangs made it impossible to make a living to the Mexican border of Tijuana and to the U.S.
"If God allows it," said Mr. García.
By midday, hundreds of them arrived in the town of Mapastepec, some 40 miles away, where they planned to bed down for the night. Exhausted, they slept on the streets and in the town square, where they could find the sun.
Some of the migrants plan to request asylum, while others think they have little chance of getting asylum so as to enter the U.S. illegally. If rejected by the U.S., some say they would try to stay in Mexico.
"Honduras is going to lose all its people, everybody is going to the U.S.," said Dyana Avila, 24, an unemployed street vendor from San Pedro Sula who was making the trip with her 52-year-old father.
"We hope God will make Trump change his mind, and let us in," she said.
The Honduran, many of the families or small children, to drop out of the caravan at Huixtla and begin to return home.
"The girls can not take it anymore," said Oscar Rivera, 27, a peasant farmer, gesturing to his two daughters eight and seven years old asleep on the sidewalk in front of the local mayor's office. He said he was hoping for a better life in the U.S. "There's nothing in Honduras," he said.
Part of the caravan were three clowns, the United Clowns Of Laughter, from Tegucigalpa, who had donned clown makeup for the first time in the 10 days they had been on the road. "We are cheering up the kids," said Kimberly Olivares, one of the three-person troupe.
"There's no work in Honduras, the gangs control everything," she said. If they did not make it to the U.S., Ms. Olivares said she was confident they could find work in Mexico City.
Write to José de Córdoba at [email protected] and Santiago Pérez at [email protected]
