Several thousand migrants have turned down an offer from the Mexican government that
included a host of benefits if they applied for refugee status and did not continue on
to the United States.
The Mexican government's plan was labeled "You are at home," and offered shelter,
medical care, schooling, and jobs
However, the refugees rejected the offer in "boisterous" fashion and are insisting
on wanting passage only to the United States.
Marketwatch reports the caravan is now near the city of Mapastepec, Mexico.
The city is located in the southern Mexican state Chiapas, close to Guatemala.
That's some 1,200 miles from the U.S. border
The caravan formed in Honduras about two weeks ago.
It is now advancing between 20 to 30 miles each day, with some on foot and some hitching
riding in trucks and other vehicles.
From Washington Examiner
Several thousand Central American migrants turned down a Mexican offer of benefits if
they applied for refugee status and stayed in the country's two southernmost states,
vowing to set out before dawn Saturday to continue their long trek toward the U.S. border.
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto announced what he called the "You are at home" plan,
offering shelter, medical attention, schooling and jobs to Central Americans in Chiapas and
Oaxaca states if they applied, calling it a first step toward permanent refugee status.
Authorities said more than 1,700 had already applied for refugee status.
But after one of the caravan's longest days of walking and hanging from passing trucks,
the bulk of the migrants were boisterous Friday evening in their refusal to accept anything
less than safe passage to the U.S. border.
"Thank you!" they yelled as they voted to reject the offer in a show of hands in
the town of Arriaga.
They then added: "No, we're heading north!".
Sitting at the edge of the edge of the town square, 58-year-old Oscar Sosa of San Pedro
Sula, Honduras concurred.
"Our goal is not to remain in Mexico," Sosa said.
"Our goal is to make it to the (U.S).
We want passage, that's all."
Still 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) from the nearest U.S. border crossing at McAllen,
Texas, the journey could be twice as long if the group heads for the Tijuana-San Diego
frontier, as another caravan did earlier this year.
Only about 200 in that group made it to the border.
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