Hundreds of Hondurans form new caravan, head for US
Hundreds of asylum seekers from Honduras have crossed into neighboring Guatemala in a newly-formed caravan heading toward the United States, amid persisting efforts by the American president to rally support for erecting a wall along the US-Mexico border.
More than 700 Honduran refugees — including entire families, some with small children — attempted to pass through the Agua Caliente border crossing between Honduran and Guatemala on Tuesday, but only some 360 individuals were able to present documents to pass through legally.
Nearly 350 others, however, were reportedly detained by local immigration authorities after crossing into Guatemalan territory for lacking proper identification documents.
Honduran Deputy Foreign Minister Nelly Jerez told reporters earlier on Tuesday that the caravan at the Agua Caliente border crossing numbered between 800 and 1,000 people.
According to Guatemalan police officials, scores of asylum seekers ran toward the border crossing, where they were met with a large group of police officers, and nearly 150 were turned away because they did not possess proper documents.
“Those who (lack documents) will be turned back,” said a spokeswoman for Guatemala’s immigration authority, Alejandra Mena.
Additionally, a second group of nearly 300 Honduran asylum seekers walked along a highway and was expected to reach the same border crossing on Tuesday night.
A smaller group of about 50 refugees had also reportedly gathered in the capital of El Salvador, intending to join with the caravan in Honduras.
Television footage also showed mainly younger refugees leaving the infamously violent Honduran city of San Pedro Sula on Tuesday, some of whom tried to get a ride, aiming to catch up with the caravan that left the city on Monday.
Meanwhile, nearly 2,500 refugees from a previous caravan of Central Americans who crossed Mexico have been camping in shelters in the Mexican border city of Tijuana.
The bodies of two slain Honduran migrant youths were found in Tijuana last month in a sign of the dangers facing the Central American refugees in Mexico as they attempt to seek asylum in the US.
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