The caravan of migrants crosses the southern border of Mexico
The caravan of migrants crosses the southern border of Mexico
TECUN UMAN, Guatemala: A caravan of several thousand Honduran migrants headed for the United States of America broke the southern border of Mexico with Guatemala on Friday, but hundreds of Mexican police kept them at bay in a tense confrontation, which worsened the regional migration crisis.
The race on the border came after Mexican officials said they would grant asylum to the caravan of some 3,000 migrants fleeing Central America, prone to violence. But Mexicans said they would only allow 100 to 200 migrants per day, because they could not process asylum applications more quickly.
Despite the offer, most Hondurans were uneasy at the prospect of waiting days or weeks after walking from their places of origin to Mexico. Hundreds of migrants, mostly young men, began to tear down a fence on the Guatemalan side of the border and soon overwhelmed the handful of Guatemalan police.
One of the migrants addressed the crowd from a house in this Guatemalan border city. "If they do not let us cross now, we'll cross the river," he said.
A caravan of some 3,000 migrants fleeing Honduras continues to walk north to the US border. UU., While Trump threatened to deploy the army and close the border between EE. UU And Mexico. Photo: Reuters
Then, the migrants rushed across the bridge that separates the two countries and tried to overwhelm about 500 federal policemen who managed a thin fence. At one point, some in the crowd threw bottles and rocks at the police, who responded with several discharges of what appeared to be tear gas. A helicopter was roaming the skies.
Some immigrants carried babies in their arms, others pushed strollers and almost everyone carried their belongings in backpacks and bags. Only a few women with children were able to enter Mexico.
After it became clear that the Mexican police would not let most of the crowd pass, dozens of young people began climbing the fence on the bridge and plunging into the shallow river, tying up several improvised rafts in an attempt to cross illegally to the side. Mexican
The Interior Minister of Mexico, Alfonso Navarrete, said that caravan leaders "put pregnant women and children at the head of the group." He said several Mexican policemen were injured because they contained crowds crossing into Mexican territory.
The caravan has It attracted President Trump's wrath. Mr. Trump has presented the caravan and the broader immigration problem at political rallies Around the United States on behalf of the Republican candidates in the November midterm elections.
Most migrants plan to go to the United States and seek asylum or attempt to cross the border illegally. Mr. Trump has sworn they will be returned.
The Mexican authorities say that any immigrant who crosses the border illegally will be deported.
Photo:
John Moore / Getty Images
Mr. Trump has long claimed that lax immigration laws have impeded the United States, including the so-called capture and release policy, in which asylum-seeking immigrants are released into the community while waiting for a hearing to determine your state.
The president said that, at his request, Mexico was trying to help control the flow of immigrants from neighboring countries, but that he was prepared. use the military force of the United States if necessary.
In addition to pressuring Mexico to prevent migrants from reaching the United States border, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Mexican authorities in Mexico City on Friday. The migrant caravan was at the head of the agenda.
"We are prepared to do everything we can to support the decisions Mexico takes on how they will address this serious and important issue for their country," Pompeo told reporters after meeting with President Enrique Peña Nieto.
Mexican officials expected the asylum offer to break the big caravan and persuade many migrants to stay in Mexico instead of crossing the country and trying to enter the United States illegally.
"Mexico is in a bind," said Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, a group of experts based in Washington. "Mexico is saying that it is doing this for its own interest, and that is true, but the United States is also exerting a lot of pressure, and Mexico also has to maintain its relationship with the United States."
At the beginning of the day, the Ambassador of Mexico in Guatemala, Luis Manuel López Moreno, met with migrants in the central square of this city. He told the exhausted travelers that they would be allowed to enter in an orderly manner.
"The border is not closed. We are open to receive them with order and in accordance with the law, "said López Moreno in an interview.
Some of the migrants received the news with cheers. "Thank God, thank God, we thank Mexico for its generosity and solidarity," said Karissa Romero, a 31-year-old woman who joined the caravan on Sunday in Honduras with two of her children.
Mexico has a long history of defending the rights of its own immigrants in the United States. Images of Honduran immigrants who were rejected by the Mexican police were harshly criticized by some in Mexico.
The interior minister of Mexico, Mr. Navarrete, said Mexico will continue efforts to convince the group's leaders to help with the orderly entry of migrants to Mexico and respect the laws of the country, he told Mexican television.
"There is no possibility that we act in a coercive way, harming a vulnerable group," he added.
The caravan began last week in Honduras and grew rapidly in size. At first, a group of 200 people agreed on social networks to travel together to ensure their safety in some of the most violent countries in the world. But soon it grew quickly. Residents and migrants say they joined the caravan because they did not have to pay thousands of dollars for a "coyote" to traffic in the US. UU
"We just want to look for a better future. In Honduras, you work to survive and that is not a decent life, "said Dania Lopez, 30, a divorced woman who arrived with her three children, who said she earned only $ 62 a week." The trip is really difficult My son told me this morning: Mom, let's pay for a taxi, "she added crying as she hugged her five-year-old son, Ariel.
Mexico's effort to offer asylum marks a deviation from its handling of previous caravans, when migrants were sometimes granted transit visas that allowed them to pass through Mexico en route to the United States.
Aurora Vega, a spokesperson for the Mexican government's migration agency, said migrants would have to stay in a government-run shelter for the first 10 days of their stay, while Mexican officials review their requests and make sure that there are no criminals or terrorists among them. The asylum agency of Mexico will decide if it approves the requests of those who pass that first selection. The asylum application process generally takes about 45 business days.
"They are not free to roam the country when they arrive for the first time, and if someone is caught doing it, they will be deported," he said. That means the caravan is unlikely to regroup soon, he said.
During that time, migrants can choose whether to stay in a government-run shelter or go to one run by charitable groups, Vega said. If they leave the city during this period, the asylum application is canceled and the applicants will be deported.
Asylum seekers in the United States also face a long and complicated legal process. For those who pass an initial interview, the so-called credible scare bar, you will have to prove to an immigration judge that you are likely to suffer persecution in your home country because of your membership in a particular social group and your government is not willing To do it. or unable to protect them.
Many asylum seekers from Central America have said they are fleeing gangs, domestic violence and other crimes. Earlier this year, the Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a ruling. That said, domestic violence and gang threats are generally no reason to gain asylum in the United States. He said that such threats were "private violence."
However, those who pass the credible fear bar and are released from immigration jails will face a one-year wait for their case to be decided. More than 764,000 cases are pending in federal immigration courts.
While immigrants wait, they can apply for a work permit to be allowed to work legally while their case is decided.
-Courtney McBride, Alicia Caldwell and Vivian Salama contributed to this article.
Write to Juan Montes in juan.montes@wsj.com
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