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ARRIAGA, Mexico – Hundreds of Mexican federal officials carrying plastic shields prevented a Central American caravan from moving to the United States on Saturday after a group of several thousand of migrants refused to seek refugee status and to obtain a Mexican benefit offer.
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto announced what he called the plan "You are at home". It offers Central African refugees shelter, medical care, education and jobs in the states of Chiapas and Oaxaca, provided that migrants apply. The authorities indicated that more than 1,700 people had already applied for refugee status.
But the federal police blocked the highway, causing an ongoing operation to stop the caravan. Thousands of migrants waited to move forward and pledged to continue their long march to the US border.
At a meeting organized by Mexico's National Human Rights Commission, police announced it would reopen the highway and only wanted the federal authorities to explain the proposal to migrants who had rejected it the day before . The migrants retorted that the middle of a highway was not a place of negotiation and said they would at least arrive safely to Mexico City to discuss the matter with Mexican authorities and lawmakers.
They agreed to forward information to their respective parties and announced that they would meet again.
Orbelina Orellana, a migrant from San Pedro Sula in Honduras, said that she and her husband had left three children behind and decided to continue north one way or another.
"Our destiny is to arrive at the border," Orellana said.
She was suspicious of the government proposal and said that some Hondurans who had applied for legal status had already been fired. His claims could not be verified, but the representatives of the migrants in the interviews asked the Mexican government to provide a list of all those who had been forced to return.
The clash comes after one of the longest days of the caravan's hike, suspended on passing trucks, for a 100 km drive to the town of Arriaga.
Most of the migrants were vehement on Friday night in their refusal to accept anything other than the safe passage across the US border.
"Thank you!" They shouted by voting against the show of hands. They then added, "No, we are heading north!"
Oscar Sosa, 58, of San Pedro Sula, Honduras, aged 58, agreed, at the edge of the village square.
"Our goal is not to stay in Mexico," Sosa said. "Our goal is to go to the United States. We want the passage, that's all.
Still 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) from the nearest US border crossing in McAllen, Texas, the trip could be twice as long if the group of some 4,000 migrants headed to the Tijuana-San Diego border, as had made another caravan earlier this year. About 200 people from this group managed to get to the border.
Although such caravans of migrants have regularly occurred over the years, passing largely unnoticed, they have attracted sustained attention this year after the strong opposition of US President Donald Trump.
On Friday, the Pentagon approved a request for additional troops on the southern border, which could reach several hundred, to help the US Border Patrol while Trump seeks to transform the concerns over immigration and security. caravan in electoral gains in mid-November.
US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis has endorsed the Department of Homeland Security's request for help and authorized the military to define details such as size, composition and estimated cost deployments, according to a US official who requested anonymity. to discuss a planning that has not yet been announced publicly.
Stoking fears about the caravan and illegal immigration to rally his Republican base, the president hinted that gang members and "Middle Eastern residents" were mingling with the group, although he later acknowledged that there was no evidence of this.
Ana Griselda Hernandez, 44, of Mapala, Honduras, told a church in Arriaga on Friday that she and two of her friends traveling with children had decided to pay for a bus ride from Pijijiapan . – 5 years old would have never traveled the distance of 100 km.
"It's difficult because they walk very slowly," she said. She pointed to blisters with crusted feet, testifying to the fact that they had walked or climbed laps from their country.
The caravan is now trying to reach Tapanatepec, about 46 km away.
Until now, the Mexican government allowed migrants to walk, but did not provide them with food, shelter or toilets, reserving no help to those who would go.
The police also evicted migrant passengers from the buses, applying an obscure regulation on road insurance to prevent them from traveling in this manner.
On Friday, authorities cracked down on smaller groups trying to overtake the main caravan, arresting around 300 Hondurans and Guatemalans who crossed the Mexican border illegally, an official of the national immigration authorities said.
Migrants, who enter Mexico illegally every day, usually go in trucks or smugglers' buses or walk at night to avoid being spotted. The fact that the group of about 300 stragglers walked in broad daylight suggests that they were adopting the tactics of the main caravan, which is big enough to stay in the open without fear of massive detention.
However, it now appears that such smaller groups will be chosen by the immigration authorities, which will prevent them from joining the caravan.
On Friday night, Irineo Mujica, whose organization People Without Borders is supporting the caravan, accused of harassing Mexican immigration agents and urged the migrants to come closer.
"They terrorize us," he said.
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Associated Press writers Mark Stevenson and Peter Orsi in Mexico contributed to this report.
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, disseminated, rewritten or redistributed.
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