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The border patrol reported Saturday the first major case of violence related to a caravan of migrants, claiming that a Honduran man had thrown stones at officers to prevent his arrest Friday in Arizona.
The 31-year-old, whom the authorities did not name, climbed into a tree to avoid capture, then set him on fire and started throwing stones at the officers and a helicopter called to follow him.
Neither the agents nor the helicopter were hit by the projectiles.
The man was finally arrested and agents claimed that he had told them that he was part of the migrant caravan that had made headlines. They said they had already been arrested in the United States and deported in June.
A local fire department had to be called to extinguish the fire.
According to Homeland Security officials, members of the caravan have gathered up to 10,500 people on the Mexican side of the border in recent weeks.
While many images of the caravan show women and children, the US authorities say the majority of the members are single adults, mostly men, from Central America. This would make plausible claims for Hondurans.
Last month, President Trump had expressly warned of the danger that members of the caravan would throw stones and said that agents should treat stone throwers as if they were using firearms.
Indeed, incidents of throwing stones, as known by the agents, can constitute violent clashes, often involving small boulders acting on the agents or their vehicles with enough force to break the bones or to tip the trucks.
US authorities have been worried about caravan violence since thousands of people crossed the southern border of Mexico and clashed with Mexican police who were sent to try to stop them from entering the city.
The reason why the Honduran separated from the rest of the caravans is not clear to try to enter by his own means.
Officers had detected it for the first time by locating footprints along the border just east of the border with Andrade, California.
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