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MEXICO CITY (AP) – Central American migrants resting in Mexico City, which they should take to the border and what options were available to them in Mexico and the United States ahead of a vote on what their next caravan should be.
<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> A vote on the caravan's next step could take place late Thursday.
"California is the longest route but is the best border," said Jose Luis Fuentes of the National Lawyers Guild to the migrants.
Mexico City is more than 600 miles from the nearest US border crossing at McAllen, Texas, and a previous caravan in the spring oped for a much longer route to Tijuana in the far northwest, across from San Diego. That caravan steadily dwindled to only about 200 people by the time it reached the border.
They should also be warned that if they are separated from their children they should "say they want a lawyer and not sign any paper."
Other options available to migrants in Mexico, which has offered them refuge, asylum, or work visas. The government said 2,697 temporary visas had been issued to individuals and families to cover them while they waited for the 45-day application for a permanent status.
Wednesday's assembly came to a day after US elections in which President Donald Trump had made a move on the issue.
Marlon Ivan Mendez, a farm worker from Copan, Honduras, was waiting in line for donated shoes to replace the worn out crocs. He said he left because gangs were charging him to live in his own home.
"It is not fair that the good ones pay for the sinners," Mendez said of fears that gang members are coming with the caravan.
On Wednesday, Christopher Gascon, the Mexico City Representative for the International Organization for Migration, estimated there are about 6,000 migrants at the Jesus Martinez Sports Complex in Mexico City and maybe another 4,000 in caravans that are working their way through southern Mexico.
But some migrants had been visiting the organization's
"They probably did not have a very clear idea of what they faced," Gascon said. On Wednesday night, from Mexico City to return 40 and 50 people to their country of origin.
Meanwhile, other migrants were focusing on the daunting task of reaching the US border and presenting asylum requests there. The US elections occupied only a small part of their thoughts.
Nora Torres, a 53-year-old Honduran, anxiously asked a reporter: "How did he (Trump) do? Did he do well or poorly?"
Torres had run a small restaurant but closed it because gangs were demanding too much protection money.
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In the stadium, hundreds of Mexico City employees and even more donations and direct migrants to food, water, diapers, and other basics. Migrants searched through piles of donated clothes and grabbed boxes of milk for children.
Darwin Pereira, a 23-year-old construction worker from Olanchito, Honduras, left his country with his wife and son, 4, for the very simple reason that "there is no work there."
Pereira, who still wears the sandals he left Honduras with a month ago, said he has a novel approach to getting into the United States.
"If I meet Donald Trump, I'm going to cry, I'll cry because there's nothing else to do," he said.
