CIUDAD HIDALGO, Mexico (AP) — A ragged army of Honduran migrants streamed through southern
Mexico on Sunday heading toward the United States, after making an end-run around Mexican
agents who briefly blocked them at the Guatemalan border.
Their numbers have now swelled to 5,000.
They received help at every turn from sympathetic Mexicans who offered food, water and clothing.
Hundreds of locals driving pickups, vans and cargo trucks stopped to let them clamber aboard.
entral American migrants walking to the U.S. start their day departing Ciudad Hidalgo,
Mexico, Sunday, Oct. 21, 2018.
Despite Mexican efforts to stop them at the border, about 5,000 Central American migrants
resumed their advance toward the U.S. border early Sunday in southern Mexico.
Their numbers swelled overnight and at first light they set out walking toward the Mexican
town of Tapachula.
(AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
Besi Jaqueline Lopez of the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula carried a stuffed polar
bear in a winter cap that seemed out of place in the tropical heat.
It's the favorite — and only — toy of her two daughters, 4-year-old Victoria and
3-year-old Elisabeth, who trudged beside her gleaming with sweat.
A business administration graduate, Lopez said she couldn't find work back home and
hopes to reach the United States, but would stay in Mexico if she could find employment
here.
"My goal is to find work for a better future for my daughters," she said.
In dozens of interviews along the journey, they have said they are fleeing widespread
violence, poverty and corruption in Honduras.
After praising Mexico for its no-nonsense response when police at a southern border
bridge pushed the migrants back with riot shields and pepper spray, U.S. President Donald
Trump again hammered Democratic Party opponents over what he apparently sees as a winning
issue for Republicans a little over two weeks ahead of midterm elections.
After blaming the Democrats for "weak laws" on immigration a few days earlier, Trump said
via Twitter: "The Caravans are a disgrace to the Democrat party.
Change the immigration laws NOW!"
"Full efforts are being made to stop the onslaught of illegal aliens from crossing
our Souther (sic) Border," he said in another tweet.
"People have to apply for asylum in Mexico first, and if they fail to do that, the U.S.
will turn them away.
The courts are asking the U.S. to do things that are not doable!"
Hundreds of migrants from the caravan did just that — applied for refugee status in
Mexico in the southern city of Ciudad Hidalgo.
But a far bigger group forded the Suchiate River from Guatemala to the Mexican side individually
and dozens at a time, and resumed the trek at first light, marching 10 abreast on the
highway.
"Si se pudo!" they chanted in Spanish — "Yes, we could!"
The throng grew even larger than when the migrants arrived at the border bridge Friday,
swelling overnight to 5,000 or so.
It was not immediately clear where the additional travelers came from since about 2,000 had
been gathered on the Mexican side Saturday night.
But people have been joining and leaving the caravan daily, some moving at their own pace
and strung out in a series of columns.
A group of Central American migrants cross the Suchiate River aboard a raft made out
of tractor inner tubes and wooden planks, on the the border between Guatemala and Mexico,
in Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico, Saturday, Oct. 20, 2018.
After Mexican authorities slowed access through the border bridge to a crawl, hundreds of
migrants boarded the rafts or waded across the river and crossed into Mexico illegally.
(AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
Their destination Sunday was the city of Tapachula in Chiapas state.
Under a blazing sun, small groups of 20 to 30 paused to rest in the shade of trees on
the side of the road, and by afternoon the caravan had evolved into long lines of walkers
straggling for miles.
Jesus Valdivia, of Tuxtla Chico, Mexico, was one of the many who pulled his pickup truck
over to let 10 or even 20 migrants hop in at a time, sometimes causing vehicles' springs
to groan under the weight.
"You have to help the next person.
Today it's for them, tomorrow for us," Valdivia said, adding that he was getting
a valuable gift from those he helped: "From them we learn to value what they do not have."
Passing freight trucks were quickly boarded by dozens of migrants, and straining tuk-tuks
carried as many as a half-dozen.
Brenda Sanchez of San Pedro Sula, Honduras, who rode in Valdivia's truck with three
nephews ages 10, 11 and 19, expressed gratitude to "God and the Mexicans who have helped
us."
She even had kind words for Mexican police: "We are very grateful to them because even
though they closed the doors to us (at the border), they are coming behind us taking
care of us."
Federal police monitored the caravan's progress from a helicopter and had a few units escorting
it.
Outside Tapachula, about 500 black-uniformed officers briefly gathered along the highway
on buses and in patrol units, but they said their orders were to maintain traffic and
not to stop the caravan.
They moved on toward the city before the caravan reached them.
As the migrants passed through villages on the outskirts of Ciudad Hidalgo, locals applauded,
shouted encouragement and donated supplies.
Maria Teresa Orellana, a resident of Lorenzo, handed out sandals.
"It's solidarity," she said.
"They're our brothers."
Mexico's Interior Department said in a statement that federal and Chiapas state authorities
were providing assistance to migrants, including legal counseling for those who applied for
asylum.
It released a video showing workers doling out food, medicine and medical treatment.
In comments to reporters after a rally in Elko, Nevada, on Saturday night, Trump said
of Mexico's response: "I just want to say, on behalf of the American public, that
we appreciate what Mexico is doing.
They've really stepped up, and it will not be forgotten."
Trump also repeated: "I will seal off the border before (the migrants) come into this
country, and I'll bring out our military, not our reserves."
Mexican authorities had refused to allow the caravan mass entry from Guatemala, instead
accepting small groups to process asylum requests and handing out some 45-day visitor permits.
An estimated 1,500 were still on the Guatemalan side of the Suchiate, hoping to enter legally.
But police could do little if anything in the face of the throngs who avoided the official
entry point and crossed the notoriously porous border elsewhere.
Migrants marching north Sunday said they gave up on Mexico because the application process
was too slow, and most wanted to continue to the United States anyway.
Olivin Castellanos, 58, a truck driver and mason from Villanueva, Honduras, was one of
those who rafted across the river.
"No one will stop us, only God," he said.
"We knocked down the door and we continue walking."
If he makes it to the United States, he wants to work.
"I can do this," Castellanos said, pointing to the asphalt under his feet.
"I've made highways."
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