When will the first caravan of migrants arrive? Perhaps never, as many Central Americans plan to stay in Mexico

Central American migrants traveling in a caravan heading to the United States discuss the opportunity to stay in Mexico, where they settled in the country's capital, or to continue their journey to the US border. .

The question of whether to stay or leave was raised after humanitarian aid intensified on Tuesday for some 4,500 migrants currently taking refuge at Jesus Martinez Stadium in Mexico City.

In the face of pressure from the United States to prevent the caravan from reaching the border, Mexico offered migrants a safe haven, asylum or work visa if they chose to stay in the country, the agency reported. Associated Press.

A mother and her baby, who are taking part in a caravan heading for the United States, are resting on November 6 in a stadium converted into a shelter in Mexico City, during a stoppage of their journey. Migrants wondered whether they would stay or not. in Mexico or push up to the US border. ALFREDO ESTRELLA / AFP / Getty

The government told the news agency that nearly 2,700 temporary visas had been issued to individuals and their families to allow them to stay in Mexico until their application for permanent status was processed, which could take up to 45 days.

The caravan members refused to make an immediate decision about whether they would stay in Mexico, according to the AP.

Sara Rodriguez, a 34-year-old mother from Colon, Honduras, fled the country with her 16-year-old daughter, Emily, after the teenager began to draw unwanted attention from her country. a drug dealer told the AP that she hoped the group would continue north "all together".

The Trump administration stood against the caravan, along with several others, who were trailing behind the first group now in Mexico City, calling their fate an "invasion". Experts said migrants often choose to travel together in large numbers for reasons of "security".

Traveling in large groups would increase migrants' chances of safe passage, and create a sense of community throughout an arduous journey. That's what says Karen Jacobsen, Henry J. Leir Chair in Global Migration at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, recently appeared in The Conversation.

"When they cross Central America, the Sahara Desert or the Afghan mountains, migrants are regularly extorted by criminals, militias and corrupt immigration agents who know that migrants are migrants." easy targets: they carry money, but not weapons, "wrote Jacobsen.

Read more: Obama condemns Trump's response to the migrant caravan as a "political coup"

President Donald Trump has promised to stop migrants at the border. His administration has already begun deploying thousands of soldiers to the US-Mexico border in anticipation of the arrival of migrants heading to the United States.

The first active service military troops to arrive were tasked with working to install razor wire coils on the bridges and riverbanks over the weekend.

The president and his administration had been accused of using the caravan to dispel the fears of immigration and distract voters before the mid-term elections on Tuesday, a charge he vehemently denied.