Second Migrant Caravan Moves Through Guatemala Toward Mexico

10/23/2018 – The New York Times

By Reuters 

TAPACHULA, Mexico/GUATEMALA CITY — A group of more than a thousand Central Americans in Guatemala headed toward the Mexican border on Tuesday as the first caravan of migrants paused in southern Mexico on its planned journey toward the U.S. border.

U.S. President Donald Trump has vowed to begin cutting millions of dollars in aid to Central America and called the caravan in Mexico a national emergency as he seeks to boost his Republican Party’s chances in the Nov. 6 congressional elections.

The caravan, which has been estimated at 7,000 to 10,000 mostly Honduran migrants fleeing violence and poverty in their homelands, is currently in the town of Huixtla in Chiapas state around 31 miles (50 km) north of the Guatemalan border.

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Caravan ‘crisis’ a chance to forge better immigration policy

10/23/2018 – The Hill

By Earl Anthony Wayne

President Trump’s demands for neighboring governments to stop the most recent migrant caravan heading to the U.S. from Central America highlight the pressing need for a region-wide strategy to deal with migration flows.

With the current caravan, the government of Mexico is caught between the forceful U.S. requests for action and portions of its own society sympathetic to the migrants. In addition, its freedom of action limited by weak enforcement and refugee mechanisms and legal frameworks favorable to migrants.

The Mexican government’s request for assistance from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees underscores its urgent search for ways forward.

The caravan is also a test for Mexico’s incoming president, Andres Manual Lopez Obrador (AMLO), who takes office Dec. 1. He champions migrants’ rights but also seeks a good relationship with the U.S. so that he can focus on domestic priorities.

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The mystery of ‘unknown Middle Easterners’: Who is really in the migrant caravan?

10/23/2018 – The Washington Post

By Kevin Sieff

Gage Skidmore ®

TAPACHULA, Mexico — No one here has seen any “unknown Middle Easterners” among the Central Americans heading north through Mexico.

“Hardened criminals” have been tough to identify, as have “very tough criminal elements.”

Those are the ways President Trump has described members of the migrant caravan. When a reporter asked him how he was so sure, he responded: “Don’t be a baby.”

So who are the more than 5,000 people who left Central America in recent weeks, joining a group that hopes eventually to cross into the United States?

Their stories are often reduced to the reasons they fled their hometowns: people running from violence or poverty or trying to reunite with American wives and children. But watching the enormous procession march through the streets of southern Mexico, the most striking thing about the group’s demographic is how varied it is.

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In Defiance, Thousands of Migrants Move Toward the U.S. They Are Just the Latest.

10/23/2018 – The New York Times

Migrants from a caravan arrived at the United States border at Tijuana, Mexico, in April.CreditCreditMeghan Dhaliwal for The New York Times

by Miriam Jordan 

LOS ANGELES — A tremendous caravan of migrants from Central America that slowly trekked toward the southwestern border this week, both captivating the world and enraging President Trump and other politicians, is just the latest of several to stretch north toward the United States in recent years.

Though the current group appeared to be among the largest, two caravans last year each drew about 350 migrants. Some traveled all the way to the United States, where they applied for asylum. Others sought protection in Mexico. Still others dropped out along the way.

In this case, in defiance of the Mexican and American governments, more than 7,000 Central American undocumented migrants have been en route to the United States for more than a week.

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The Latest: Mexico’s AMLO eyes development to fix migration

10/22/2018 – The Washington Post

The Associated Press

Mexico’s president-elect says he is suggesting to U.S. President Donald Trump that the United States, Canada and Mexico jointly tackle migration by agreeing to invest in development.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador says the countries ought to reach a deal to invest in Central America and southern Mexico, which are home to come of the region’s poorest areas.

Lopez Obrador made the comment Sunday as thousands of Honduran migrants streamed through southern Mexico hoping to reach the United States.

In the president-elect’s words: “He who leaves his town does not leave for pleasure but out of necessity.”

Lopez Obrador also reiterated promises of jobs in Mexico for Central American migrants fleeing poverty and violence.

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Thousands in U.S.-bound migrant caravan pour into Mexican city

10/22/2018 – Reuters 

A U.S.-bound caravan of thousands of mostly Honduran migrants whom President Donald Trump has declared unwelcome, crowded into the Mexican border city of Tapachula on Sunday, setting up impromptu camps in public spaces under a heavy rain.

Members of the caravan, exhausted from the hours-long trek on foot from the Guatemalan border, mostly ignored police offers to board buses heading to a migrant shelter because of suspicions they might be deported instead.

The migrants have defied threats by Trump that he will close the U.S.-Mexico border if the caravan advances, as well as warnings from the Mexican government that they risk deportation if they cannot justify seeking asylum in Mexico.

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Growing caravan of migrants pushes deeper into Mexico

10/22/2018 – Politico

The caravan of Honduran migrants heading to the U.S. swelled to an estimated 5,000 people Sunday after many migrants found ways to cross from Guatemala into southern Mexico as police blocked the official crossing point. | Orlando Sierra/AFP/Getty Images

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Thousands of Honduran migrants hoping to reach the U.S. stretched out on rain-soaked sidewalks, benches and public plazas in the southern Mexico city of Tapachula, worn down by another day’s march under a blazing sun.

Keeping together for strength and safety in numbers, some huddled under a metal roof in the city’s main plaza Sunday night. Others lay exhausted in the open air, with only thin sheets of plastic to protect them from ground soggy from an intense evening shower. Some didn’t even have a bit of plastic yet.

“We are going to sleep here in the street, because we have nothing else,” said Jose Mejia, 42, a father of four from the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula. “We have to sleep on the sidewalk, and tomorrow wake up and keep walking. We’ll get a piece of plastic to cover ourselves if it rains again.”

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