BREAKING: Migrants in Caravans Break Down Fence and Rush into Mexico https://t.co/mfknqIjSg9 pic.twitter.com/J2rDz59LrU
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Thousands of migrants who’ve trekked from Honduras in hopes of making it to the United States broke down a metal gate at the Mexico-Guatemala border Friday afternoon, according to a report.
The caravan of migrants rushed toward a border bridge in Mexico just after noon local time – as hundreds of federal police and Guatemalan cops in riot gear stood guard.
The scores of men, women and children waved Honduran flags and chanted, “One way or another, we will pass” and “We are not smugglers, we are immigrants” as they gathered along the muddy Suchiate River.
After arriving at the southern border, the crowd briefly retreated for an hour or so in front of the closed metal gate. But soon after, young men tore down the gate by yanking on it, while others climbed atop of it and US-donated military jeeps.
The group then rushed a border bridge about 150 yards away, with about 50 people pushing their way through as police unleashed pepper spray. Some members of the caravan also threw rocks.
“We need you to stop the aggression,” a federal police officer yelled at the crowd from a loudspeaker.
The first wave of the migrants – as many as 3,000 people fleeing poverty and violence in the Central American country – arrived in the Guatemalan border town of Tecun Uman early Thursday, with the rest of trickling in amid downpours later in the day.
Before dawn on Friday, migrants opted to wait a few more hours for stragglers to arrive.
President Trump has issued repeated threats to yank aid to Honduras and deploy the military to quash the caravan before it reached the United States.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with top officials in Mexico Friday and said he agreed with the country’s request to the United Nations to set up a migrant processing center near their southern border.
“We are quickly reaching a point which appears to be a moment of crisis,” he said during a joint appearance with Mexico’s foreign minister, Luis Videgaray.
Speaking of Mexico, Pompeo added, “The way you will handle this is your sovereign decision.”
Luis Manuel Lopez Moreno, Mexico’s ambassador to Guatemala, said his country would enforce a policy of “metered entry” and agreed to grant humanitarian and asylum visas to the migrants, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Moreno said some 100 migrants a day would be allowed into the country to have their asylum requests reviewed.
The process will allow them to enter Mexico legally until their cases are resolved and let them travel freely about the country. If approved, they’ll be permitted to stay in Mexico permanently.
Via NewYorkPost
