More than 1,000 Honduran migrants on Thursday broke through a police barrier on the border with Guatemala to join hundreds of others heading for the US.
The migrants, many fleeing poverty and gang violence at home, passed through a police cordon without difficulty and without going through migration protocol at the southeastern city of Agua Caliente, a photojournalist at the scene said.
The latest Central American migrant caravan formed despite increased attempts by US President Donald Trump to keep them out of the US.
Photo: AP
Last year, the US signed a deal with Guatemala that obliges migrants traveling through it and seeking asylum in the US to first request protection in the Central American nation.
Dozens of Guatemalan security forces were deployed at border areas to check that Hondurans had passed through immigration control.
They also checked that children were traveling with either a parent or guardian.
About 3,000 migrants were believed to be heading through the country toward its border with Mexico, Guatemalan immigration authorities said.
Several US Customs and Border Protection officers were assisting local authorities, the US embassy in Guatemala told reporters.
Before the migrants were allowed to cross into Guatemala, local and US officials took part in joint identification checks, also aimed at detecting gang members.
The migrants, including some children, left San Pedro Sula in northern Honduras on Tuesday night and from Wednesday began entering Guatemala.
Authorities in Guatemala have said that more than 2,200 people passed through either the Agua Caliente checkpoint in the southeast or El Cinchado in the northeast.
“We’re heading on toward the American dream,” Kelvin Ramos told reporters from a migrant center at the border town of Esquipulas.
“I’ve heard they pay well in the United States to paint houses,” he added.
That was his job in Honduras.
Many migrants that pass the El Cinchado border split up at that point, local human rights department spokeswoman Aleida Serrato told reporters.
“It’s better to walk [and] flee the country,” Mariano de Jesus said as he waited to cross into Guatemala, while blaming Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez for his country’s troubles.
De Jesus used to work as a builder’s assistant, but said that his job “is worth nothing.”
Thousands of Central Americans from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala started forming migrant caravans heading for the US toward the end of 2018.
It angered Trump — who, while campaigning for election, vowed to build a wall along the southern US border with Mexico to keep out migrants — so much that he threatened punitive measures against Central American governments if they did not stem the tide.
Last year, Trump sent 6,000 troops to the US’ border with Mexico and warned of an “invasion” of gang members and criminals.
About 30,000 Honduran migrants remain in Mexico waiting for a response to their US asylum requests.
Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei, who was sworn in on Tuesday, on Wednesday said that he would not allow the Honduran migrants to cross into Mexico.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese