Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Migrant caravan: 'May God soften Trump's heart'

Thousands of people travelling across Central America en masse to the US are stuck on Mexico's southern border after a failed attempt to enter the country.

Some of them broke through Guatemalan border fences but then clashed with Mexican riot police in no man's land.

On Friday, US President Donald Trump thanked Mexico for its efforts in stopping the caravan of migrants.

The migrants, mostly from Honduras, say they are fleeing violence and poverty, and include women and children.

President Trump, who has threatened to close down the US border and cut aid to countries allowing the caravan to pass, said the military would be called upon if needed.

"They might as well turn back, they're not coming into this country," he told reporters on Friday.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Some of the migrants took drastic measures to try to avoid the border checkpoint

After talks on border security in Mexico, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the situation was reaching "a moment of crisis".

What happened on the border?

Many of the migrants temporarily broke through barriers on a bridge which crosses the river border between Guatemala and Mexico.

Dozens of Mexican police in riot gear fired tear gas to force them to retreat into no-man's land after being attacked with stones.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption They forced open a gate on the Guatemalan side and crossed the bridge to Mexico before being pushed back by police

A number of migrants jumped into the Suchiate river to reach rafts, while others either turned back towards Guatemala or simply sat down on the bridge.

Several people were reportedly injured in the clash, including migrants, police and journalists.

One woman nursing a baby told AFP she had lost two of her children in the chaos.

"We're running away from violence, and we arrive here and they just hit us more," Marta Ornelas Cazares, 28, said.

"I don't know what happened, I thought we were going to cross peacefully and then suddenly there were rocks flying and tear gas."

The Mexican authorities said those with valid passports and visas would be allowed in immediately, though this is believed to apply to only a minority of the migrants.

They warned that anyone without papers would have to apply for refugee status or turn back, and anyone who crossed illegally would be detained and deported.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption A number of injuries were reported in the clashes on Friday

According to AFP, they started to allow a small number of people - including women and children - who were seeking refugee status to pass the border late on Friday. They were put on to trucks and taken into shelters.

What will happen to them now?

Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez said he had spoken to his Guatemalan counterpart and asked permission to send his country's civil protection force to the area to help the migrants.

"I also asked for authorisation to hire ground transportation for anyone who wants to return and an air bridge for special cases of women, children, the elderly and the sick," Hernandez tweeted.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Families in the migrant caravan celebrated the breach of a gate on the Guatemala-Mexico border

The two leaders are due to meet later on Saturday to discuss the situation.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said the border clash was "unprecedented" and accused some of the migrants of attacking police.

Human rights groups have criticised the US and Mexican response to the caravan.

Erika Guevara-Rosas of Amnesty International said in a statement: "These families deserve dignity and respect to ensure that no-one is illegally returned to situations where they could risk serious harm due to violence."

Why is Trump concerned?

Since his campaign days, Mr Trump has lambasted illegal immigrants, and this latest caravan comes after a major immigration crackdown.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Women, children and elderly are amongst the thousands of people trying to get to the US

Changes to detention rules saw thousands of migrant children detained and separated from their parents at the US-Mexico border earlier this year, sparking national and international condemnation.

Mr Trump's threats come weeks before the mid-term elections on 6 November, which could see Democrats unseating Republicans in the House of Representatives.

According to a Kaiser Foundation poll, immigration is the most important issue for 15% of all voters, though the number jumps to 25% among Republican voters.

While Mr Trump has sent National Guard troops to the border before, it is unclear what he means by shutting it down entirely, and whether that would affect businesses or people with legitimate visas.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The migrant caravan Trump keeps referencing

And according to international law, the US cannot deport asylum seekers without first determining the validity of their claim.

Why are they leaving?

An estimated 10% of the population of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras have fled danger, forced gang recruitment and dismal economic opportunities.

The region has one of the highest murder rates in the world. The UN reported murder rates in 2015 in Honduras standing at 63.75 deaths per 100,000 and El Salvador at 108.64 deaths.

Jari Dixon, an opposition politician in Honduras, tweeted on Monday that the caravan was not "seeking the American dream" but "fleeing the Honduras nightmare".

In a statement on Tuesday, Honduras' foreign ministry urged its citizens to "not let themselves be used by a movement that is clearly political and seeks to disrupt the governability, stability and peace".</s>TECUN UMAN, Guatemala (Reuters) - Hundreds of members of a caravan of migrants in Guatemala tried to breach the border and enter Mexico on Friday as the Mexican government vowed to tackle the convoy that U.S. President Donald Trump says must be stopped before it reaches the United States.

Mexican television footage showed the Central American migrants pushing through Guatemalan border posts and streaming onto a bridge connecting the two countries only to be halted by dozens of Mexican police dressed in riot gear on the other side.

Some migrants violently shook fences at the border, the footage showed. Some of the group then began turning back toward Guatemala, but hundreds of men, women and children remained on the bridge spanning the Suchiate river.

Earlier, Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met in Mexico City and discussed the caravan, which left Honduras last weekend.

“It’s a challenge that Mexico is facing, and that’s how I expressed it to Secretary Pompeo,” Videgaray told a joint news conference.

Several thousand Honduran migrants seeking to escape violence and poverty have moved through Guatemala on the way to Mexico, with some hoping to enter the United States.

A similar caravan of Central Americans that formed in southern Mexico in late March also drew the ire of Trump, who on Thursday threatened to deploy the military and close the southern U.S. border if Mexico did not halt the new procession. [nL2N1WY0C5]

Such a move would cause chaos on the border, one of the world’s busiest, and badly disrupt trade.

Mexico’s government has sought assistance from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to help process migrants claiming refugee status at the border, which could allow it to disperse the train of people and placate Trump.

Pompeo said he and Videgaray spoke of the importance of stopping the caravan before it reaches the U.S. border. Pompeo thanked Mexico for its efforts to address the migrant flow, including calling in the United Nations for assistance.

On Friday morning, Videgaray said the caravan had close to 4,000 people and that the migrants could individually present their claims to enter Mexico or seek refugee status.

“We haven’t had a caravan or group of this size seeking refuge at the same time, that’s why we’ve sought the support of the United Nations,” he told Mexican television.

Mexico says the migrants will be processed and that those without a legitimate case to travel onwards or stay in Mexico will be returned to their countries of origin.

Hundreds of Mexican police were sent to guard the border between the Guatemalan town of Tecun Uman and Ciudad Hidalgo in Mexico to prepare for the migrant caravan’s arrival.

Manelich Castilla, the head of Mexico’s federal police, said at the scene that his officers had restored order after the rush of migrants towards the border, and would begin allowing people to be processed in an orderly fashion.

Six police had been injured, Castilla said.

UNHCR spokesman Charlie Yaxley said the agency is reinforcing capacity in southern Mexico to offer counselling, legal assistance and humanitarian aid to asylum-seekers.

“UNHCR is concerned that the mobilization of such a large number of people in a single group will overwhelm the capacities that exist in the region,” he told a news conference.

In contrast to the earlier caravan, which moved deeper into the interior of Mexico before officials began intensive efforts to process the migrants, the Mexican government has focussed on the new group right on its southern border with Guatemala.</s>epa07104769 Honduran migrants rest in the Tecun Uman's park in Escuintla, Guatemala, 19 October 2018, before continue their way to Mexico. Migrants, who hope to arrive to the United States to seek better living conditions, slept in an open-air theater and in the Catholic church of Tecun Uman, a few kilometers from the Suchiate River, which divides Guatemala and Mexico, where a group of migrants has already started a new stage of the crossing. EPA-EFE/ESTEBAN BIBA ORG XMIT: GU502

A caravan of U.S.-bound migrants broke down a border crossing Friday and streamed onto a bridge on Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala in the face of a heavy presence of Mexican and Guatemalan law enforcement officers, according to media reports.

The travelers — made up of 1,500 to 4,000 people mostly from Honduras — were eventually stopped on the river crossing, according to video broadcast by the Spanish-language network Telemundo.

Some members of the caravan became so desperate they jumped from the bridge, trying to grab onto one of the makeshift rafts other migrants were using to cross the river into Mexico.

“Unbelievable sight on Mexican border.. tear gas.. rocks being thrown ... caravan wants to enter ... not able to right now,” Tweeted Telemundo anchor Jose Diaz-Balart.

The network, which has reporters traveling with the caravan, showed Mexican police lined up along the fence holding it up against the waves of migrants trying to push past.

Caravan participants screamed that they were being fired upon with tear gas, but it was unclear from the video whether that was happening. Mexican officials have vowed not to harm or mistreat any of the migrants, but tensions were rising on Friday.

The group were on an early leg of a 1,100-mile sojourn to the U.S. border that President Donald Trump has made a key argument for his border policies in rallies leading into the midterm elections.

In a series of tweets this week, he threatened to cut off aid to Central America and close the southern border with Mexico if their respective governments failed to deal with the situation.

The Associated Press initially reported that the thousands of migrants stopped about two blocks from the Guatemala-Mexican border crossing before turning around, saying they would wait another hour or so.

The border post, reports the AP, is guarded by a heavy security force and tall metal gates. Dozens of Mexican federal police officers are on the border bridge, with hundreds more behind them. In Guatemala, government authorities closed its border gate and are standing guard with dozens of troops and two armored jeeps.

Mexico’s ambassador to Guatemala says his country has decided to enforce a policy of “metered entry” since thousands of migrants are clamoring to cross, says the AP.

Mexican government officials were trying to enforce its immigration laws, treat the migrants in a humanitarian way and not further antagonize an unhappy White House.

The migration crisis at Mexico’s southern border is happening the same time Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is visiting with top Mexican government officials in Mexico City as part of a previously planned trip.

Pompeo met with Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Videgaray, who has proposed that Mexico work with the United Nations refugee agency to deal with the caravan of mostly Honduran migrants — who are fleeing poverty and violence — before they can make their way to the U.S.-Mexico border. The secretary of state is also scheduled to meet with incoming foreign relations secretary Marcelo Ebrard – who has been tapped to serve in the cabinet of president-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who takes office Dec. 1.

The mass of migrants arrived in the Guatemalan border town of Tecún Umán, where they slept on the streets and in a park and prepared Friday to cross the Suchiate River – which separates Mexico and Guatemala – and head northward to the U.S. border. Such migrant caravans are not uncommon as those heading north seek safety in numbers as the road through Mexico is rife with risks such as kidnap, rape and extortion.

A caravan of more than 1,500 Honduran migrants moves north after crossing the border from Honduras into Guatemala on Oct. 15, 2018 in Esquipulas, Guatemala.

Mexico has said only those with the proper papers will be allowed entry into the country and has dispatched two planeloads of Federal Police officers to the area –which is often so neglected that migrants simply float across the river in rafts into Mexico without having to clear customs.

A top Mexican official said his government will ask the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to help identify “legitimate” asylum claims from the migrants who are part of the caravan.

More: Trump administration supports Mexico, UN plan to deal with caravan of migrants

Some in Mexico have questioned if the plan to accept so many asylum applications would work, given the current backlog of claims and slow processing times.

Mexico has received a crush of asylum claims in recent years as many Central Americans consider Mexico a destination country or prefer to not risk crossing an increasingly fortified U.S. border. The country accepted 14,596 claims in 2017, more than six times the number of applications it received in 2104. In February, the National Human Rights Commission warned of the “pending collapse of the refugee protection system in Mexico” as half of all claims were still unprocessed.

Under the Mexican government’s plan, those migrants whose asylum claims get rejected would be immediately repatriated to Honduras and other countries, Gerónimo Gutiérrez, the Mexican Ambassador to the U.S., told Fox News’ “Special Report” in an interview Thursday.

“We want to make sure that those claims are legitimate,” he said, noting a handful of migrants had already applied for asylum in Mexico.

“We obviously are sensitive to the humanitarian situation that we encounter,” said Gutiérrez. “But we have also made very clear that there is no legal ground on which Mexico can issue a permit by which people can just go through Mexico towards the United States.”

“Mexico is in favor of legal, safe and orderly migration,” he added. “And the step we took today, it’s extremely important.”

More: Trump: Aid will end to Central American countries allowing migrant caravan to head to US

The Trump administration has expressed support for the Mexican government’s plan to work with the UN.

“Let’s see what progress has been made and what progress we can make over the coming days,” Pompeo told reporters traveling with him. “I will say the Mexican government is working in good faith to try and help achieve this.”</s>A caravan of migrants near Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala on Friday has turned back from its planned sojourn to the U.S. in the face of a heavy presence of Mexican and Guatemalan law enforcement officers, according to media reports.

The Associated Press reported that thousands of migrants stopped about two blocks from the Guatemala-Mexican border crossing before turning around, saying they would wait another hour or so.

The border post, reports the AP, is guarded by a heavy security force and tall metal gates. Dozens of Mexican federal police officers are on the border bridge, with hundreds more behind them. In Guatemala, government authorities closed its border gate and are standing guard with dozens of troops and two armored jeeps.

Mexico’s ambassador to Guatemala says his country has decided to enforce a policy of “metered entry” since thousands of migrants are clamoring to cross, says the AP.

The caravan of migrants, — who are mostly from Honduras and number anywhere between 1,500 to 4,000 people — has angered President Donald Trump. In a series of tweets this week, he threatened to cut off aid to Central America and close the southern border with Mexico if their respective governments failed to deal with the situation.

Mexican government officials were trying to enforce its immigration laws, treat the migrants in a humanitarian way and not further antagonize an unhappy White House.

The migration crisis at Mexico’s southern border is happening the same time Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is visiting with top Mexican government officials in Mexico City as part of a previously planned trip.

Pompeo met with Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Videgaray, who has proposed that Mexico work with the United Nations refugee agency to deal with the caravan of mostly Honduran migrants — who are fleeing poverty and violence — before they can make their way to the U.S.-Mexico border. The secretary of state is also scheduled to meet with incoming foreign relations secretary Marcelo Ebrard – who has been tapped to serve in the cabinet of president-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who takes office Dec. 1.

The mass of migrants arrived in the Guatemalan border town of Tecún Umán, where they slept on the streets and in a park and prepared Friday to cross the Suchiate River – which separates Mexico and Guatemala – and head northward to the U.S. border. Such migrant caravans are not uncommon as those heading north seek safety in numbers as the road through Mexico is rife with risks such as kidnap, rape and extortion.

A caravan of more than 1,500 Honduran migrants moves north after crossing the border from Honduras into Guatemala on Oct. 15, 2018 in Esquipulas, Guatemala.

Mexico has said only those with the proper papers will be allowed entry into the country and has dispatched two planeloads of Federal Police officers to the area – which is often so neglected that migrants simply float across the river in rafts into Mexico without having to clear customs.

A top Mexican official said his government will ask the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to help identify “legitimate” asylum claims from the migrants who are part of the caravan.

More: Trump administration supports Mexico, UN plan to deal with caravan of migrants

Some in Mexico have questioned if the plan to accept so many asylum applications would work, given the current backlog of claims and slow processing times.

Mexico has received a crush of asylum claims in recent years as many Central Americans consider Mexico a destination country or prefer to not risk crossing an increasingly fortified U.S. border. The country accepted 14,596 claims in 2017, more than six times the number of applications it received in 2104. In February, the National Human Rights Commission warned of the “pending collapse of the refugee protection system in Mexico” as half of all claims were still unprocessed.

Under the Mexican government’s plan, those migrants whose asylum claims get rejected would be immediately repatriated to Honduras and other countries, Gerónimo Gutiérrez, the Mexican Ambassador to the U.S., told Fox News’ “Special Report” in an interview Thursday.

“We want to make sure that those claims are legitimate,” he said, noting a handful of migrants had already applied for asylum in Mexico.

“We obviously are sensitive to the humanitarian situation that we encounter,” said Gutiérrez. “But we have also made very clear that there is no legal ground on which Mexico can issue a permit by which people can just go through Mexico towards the United States.”

“Mexico is in favor of legal, safe and orderly migration,” he added. “And the step we took today, it’s extremely important.”

More: Trump: Aid will end to Central American countries allowing migrant caravan to head to US

The Trump administration has expressed support for the Mexican government’s plan to work with the UN.

“Let’s see what progress has been made and what progress we can make over the coming days,” Pompeo told reporters traveling with him. “I will say the Mexican government is working in good faith to try and help achieve this.”</s>MEXICO CITY/CIUDAD HIDALGO, Mexico (Reuters) - Mexico’s government on Friday vowed to meet the challenge of a caravan of Central American migrants heading north that has angered U.S. President Donald Trump, who threatened to shut down the U.S-Mexico border to halt its passage.

Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met in Mexico City and discussed the caravan of several thousand people, which set off from Honduras last weekend, and is now at Mexico’s border with Guatemala.

“It’s a challenge that Mexico is facing, and that’s how I expressed it to Secretary Pompeo,” Videgaray told a news conference alongside his U.S. counterpart.

On Friday afternoon, hundreds of the migrants poured through Guatemala’s frontier posts toward the closed Mexican border on a bridge spanning the Suchiate River that bisects the two countries, Mexican television footage showed.

Mexico’s government has sought assistance from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to help process migrants claiming refugee status at the border, which could allow it to disperse the train of people and placate Trump.

Pompeo said he and Videgaray spoke of the importance of stopping the caravan before it reaches the U.S. border. Pompeo thanked Mexico for its efforts to address the migrant flow, including calling in the United Nations for assistance.

Several thousand Honduran migrants seeking to escape violence and poverty moved through Guatemala on the way to Mexico, with some hoping to enter the United States.

Earlier on Friday, Videgaray said the caravan had close to 4,000 people and that the migrants could individually present their claims to enter Mexico or seek refugee status.

“We haven’t had a caravan or group of this size seeking refuge at the same time, that’s why we’ve sought the support of the United Nations,” Videgaray told Mexican television.

Dozens of police in riot gear were deployed along the river bank in the town of Ciudad Hidalgo on Mexico’s border with Guatemala as hundreds of migrants prepared to cross over from the Guatemalan town of Tecun Uman on the other side.

Mexico says the migrants will be processed and that those without a legitimate case to travel onwards or stay in Mexico will be returned to their countries of origin.

UNHCR spokesman Charlie Yaxley said the agency is reinforcing capacity in southern Mexico to offer counseling, legal assistance and humanitarian aid to asylum-seekers.

“UNHCR is concerned that the mobilization of such a large number of people in a single group will overwhelm the capacities that exist in the region,” he told a news conference.

A caravan of Central Americans that formed in southern Mexico in late March also drew the ire of Trump, who on Thursday threatened to deploy the military and close the southern U.S. border if Mexico did not halt the latest procession.

Such a move by Trump would cause chaos on the border, one of the world’s busiest, and badly disrupt trade.

However, by the end of Thursday, the U.S. president was also thanking Mexico for its efforts to contain the caravan.

In contrast to the earlier caravan, which moved deeper into the interior of Mexico before officials began intensive efforts to process the migrants, the Mexican government has focused on the new group right on its southern border with Guatemala.</s>Brisas Barra de Suchiate (Mexico) (AFP) - Mexico deployed hundreds of riot police Thursday to its border with Guatemala as a caravan of Central American migrants prepared to cross on their way to the United States, defying President Donald Trump's threats.

Hundreds of federal police in riot gear fanned out on the international bridge in Suchiate, on the Mexican-Guatemalan border, as the caravan of several thousand Honduran migrants trekked toward the crossing.

Guatemala also sent police reinforcements to its side of the border, after Trump threatened to cut aid to the region, deploy the military and close the US-Mexican border if the migrants were allowed to continue.

A first group of several hundred migrants arrived late Wednesday in the border town of Tecun Uman, Guatemala, where they overflowed a local shelter, leaving many to sleep in the town square or on the street, an AFP correspondent said.

Many were traveling with a single change of clothes and little money. Others were carrying young children in their arms.

The migrants planned to wait for the rest of the caravan to arrive, then cross the border en masse in hopes of overwhelming the Mexican authorities, who have vowed to detain anyone without a visa.

The caravan successfully used the same strategy Monday to cross from Honduras to Guatemala at the border town of Agua Caliente, despite efforts by some 100 police to stop them.

"We're going to rest here and wait for the others who are on their way so we can enter (Mexico) en masse, like we did at Agua Caliente," Edgar Elias, one of the leaders of the caravan, told AFP.

But nature may complicate that plan: the shallow Suchiate river, which forms the border, was swollen by rain overnight.

That will likely reduce the number of places where the migrants can attempt to cross the highly porous border illegally, especially since many are traveling with young children.</s>A U.S.-bound caravan that once totaled more than 3,000 Central American migrants looked to be about a third that size Saturday morning, when its remaining members woke up on a bridge that divides the borders of Guatemala and Mexico and waited to get past a crossing guarded by hundreds of Mexican federal police.Hundreds of migrants have already crossed, some legally, some not. It's unclear whether any have simply turned back.The group had burst through a Guatemalan border fence Friday and rushed onto the crossing over the Suchiate River, defying officials' entreaties for an orderly crossing and U.S. President Donald Trump's threats of retaliation. They were met by a wall of police with riot shields, and only about 50 migrants managed to push their way through before officers unleashed pepper spray. The rest retreated, joining the sea of people on the bridge between both countries.Police and immigration agents began letting small groups of 10, 20 or 30 people through the gates at a time if they wanted to apply for refugee status. Once they filed a claim, they were given the option to go to a shelter to spend the night.Other migrants, tired of waiting, jumped off the bridge into the river on Friday. Some organized a rope brigade to ford its muddy waters or floated across on rafts operated by local residents who usually charge a dollar or two to make the crossing.As dawn broke Saturday, hundreds of migrants awoke amid garbage that had already piled up on the bridge. Without bathrooms, a foul odor wafted through the air.Jose Yanez had slept with no blanket, but vowed to continue."From here, we're going on. From here, there's no turning back," said the 25-year-old farmer, adding that he makes 150 lempiras a day in Honduras, or about $6, and has no work benefits.Other migrants managed to catch rest under tarps and plastic sheets.Alison Danisa wept as she knelt on the ground, clutching her naked 11-month-old infant to her breast."We have suffered so much. She has a fever and we brought nothing," she said, showing the baby's bare bottom to indicate they had no diapers.On Friday, a Mexican marine official with a loudspeaker approached the gate and told migrants they would be taken in trucks to "a humanitarian attention center" in Tapachula, a border city in the Mexican state of Chiapas. But the official did not say when this would happen.Later in the night, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said in an address to the nation that a large group of migrants had "tried to enter Mexican territory irregularly, attacking and even hurting some elements of the federal police.""Mexico does not permit and will not permit entry into its territory in an irregular fashion, much less in a violent fashion," he said.Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez tweeted late Friday that he spoke with his Guatemalan counterpart, Jimmy Morales, and asked permission to send Honduran civil protection personnel to the bridge to help the migrants."I also asked authorization to hire ground transportation for anyone who wants to return and an air bridge for special cases of women, children, the elderly and the sick," Hernandez tweeted.Hernandez and Morales are expected to meet in Guatemala on Saturday to discuss the situation.Acner Adolfo Rodriguez, 30, one of the last migrants through the breached Guatemala border fence, said he hoped to find work and a better life far from the widespread poverty and gang violence in Honduras, one of the world's deadliest countries."May Trump's heart be touched so he lets us through," Rodriguez said.The U.S. president has made it clear to Mexico that he is monitoring its response. On Thursday, he threatened to close the U.S. border if Mexico didn't stop the caravan. Later that day he tweeted a video of Mexican federal police deploying at the Guatemalan border and wrote: "Thank you Mexico, we look forward to working with you!"Mexican officials said those with passports and valid visas - only a tiny minority of those trying to cross - would be let in immediately.Migrants who want to apply for refuge in Mexico were welcome to do so, they said, but any who decide to cross illegally and are caught will be detained and deported.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met Friday with Pena Nieto and Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Videgaray in Mexico City, with the caravan high on the agenda.At a news conference with Videgaray, Pompeo called illegal migration a "crisis" and emphasized "the importance of stopping this flow before it reaches the U.S. border," while also acknowledging Mexico's right to handle the crisis in a sovereign fashion."Mexico will make its decision," Pompeo said. "Its leaders and its people will decide the best way to achieve what I believe are our shared objectives."At Mexico City's airport before leaving, Pompeo said four Mexican federal police officers had been injured in the border standoff and expressed his sympathy.On Thursday, Videgaray asked the U.N. for help processing what Mexico expects to be a large number of asylum requests.Migrants have banded together to travel en masse regularly in recent years, but this caravan was unusual for its huge size, said Victor Clark Alfaro, a Latin American studies professor at San Diego State University. By comparison, a caravan in April that also attracted Trump's ire numbered about 1,000."It grabs one's attention that the number of people in these kinds of caravans is on the rise," Clark Alfaro said. "It is migration of a different dimension."Elizabeth Oglesby, a professor at the University of Arizona's Center for Latin American Studies, said people join caravans like this because it's a way to make the journey in a relatively safe manner and avoid having to pay thousands of dollars to smugglers. She disputed Pompeo's assertion that that there is a "crisis" of migration."The border is not in crisis. This is not a migration crisis. ... Yes, we are seeing some spikes in Central Americans crossing the border, but overall migration is at a 40-year low," Oglesby said.Speaking on the Televisa network, Videgaray did not seem concerned about Trump's threat to close the U.S.-Mexico border, saying it had to be viewed in light of the hotly contested U.S. midterm elections, in which Trump has made border security a major campaign issue.Videgaray noted that 1 million people transit the border legally every day, and about $1 million in commerce crosses every minute."Before taking decisions of that kind," Videgaray said, "there would be many people in the United States ... who would consider the consequences."</s>TECUN UMAN, Guatemala (Reuters) - Hundreds of mostly Honduran migrants began the long trek home on Saturday, some using free bus tickets from Central American authorities, while many more members of a stalled caravan remained in Guatemala at a tense border crossing with Mexico.

After clashes with Mexican riot police on Friday, some 650 migrants from the caravan made it into Mexico on the far side of a bridge over the Suchiate River, according to Mexican officials who said they were being registered.

Some 2,000 Honduran migrants were already back home after giving up on continuing to Mexico, Guatemala’s President Jimmy Morales said at a press conference in Guatemala City alongside his Honduran counterpart, President Juan Orlando Hernandez.

Hernandez said another 486 migrants were in transit back to Honduras, a roughly 12-hour trip by road.

“We are working to provide a peaceful and safe return trip and avoid that these movements keep happening in the future,” said Morales, who added that around 5,000 had amassed at the border seeking to enter Mexico.

The leaders of all three countries have come under intense pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, who for days has warned that the caravan must be stopped. Trump has made it a political issue in the Nov. 6 midterm U.S. congressional election, threatened to cut off regional aid, close the U.S.-Mexico border and deploy troops there if Mexico failed to halt the migrants.

Hernandez noted that migrants from elsewhere in the region had joined the caravan, along with others from “outside the region,” though he did not cite specific nationalities. He added that planes would be used to fly children back home.

Some migrants at the Suchiate River border crossing, seized with uncertainty about their next moves, questioned whether so many had turned back. Others crossed into Mexico after swimming or using rafts to cross the river.

Amid confusion over the numbers following Friday’s chaotic scenes, a Mexican official said on Saturday that about 5,000 Hondurans were still waiting to enter Mexico from the Guatemalan side.

Many of the migrants, the overwhelming majority fleeing violence and poverty in Honduras, slept on the bridge through heavy rain overnight, dozens of them crammed against a metal border gate guarded by Mexican police.

At one point on Saturday, about 40 women or men with small children filed through the gate and past lines of officers to waiting buses as the crowd behind them watched.

“Are they being deported?” asked Duniel Hercoles, 26, from Chiloteca, Honduras, wondering where the buses were headed.

Mexico’s government has said it will process migrants’ claims for asylum individually.

Most of the migrants spoken to by Reuters said their ultimate goal was to reach the United States. Some said they hoped to stay in Mexico, but that they had no idea how to get the documents needed to do so.

Most of the people now caught trying to enter the United States illegally hail from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, among the poorest and most violent countries in the Americas.

The caravan members ranged from farmers and bakers to housewives and students, and included a whole block of friends and family from the Honduran city of El Progreso.

Jose Ramon Rodriguez, 45, a construction worker from El Progreso, sat on the Guatemalan end of the bridge late on Friday with his head hanging low, his 9-year-old son tucked against him.

“Tomorrow we go home,” he said. His companions nodded.

Among them was Osman Melgar, who nursed a bleeding gash on his shin, suffered when he fell as dozens of people packed on the bridge began fleeing when police, according to several eyewitnesses, used tear gas.

Some, including 40-year-old Adriana Consuelo, paid raftsmen 25 pesos ($1.30) to ferry them across the river on vessels constructed of giant rubber tires.

After making it to the muddy banks of Mexico, she said, “No one checked my documents,” as Consuelo headed to a taco restaurant.

But Mexico had stepped up its efforts to stop the flow of people, migration experts said.

“Every time there’s a (migrant) caravan there are police sent to the southern border ... but we’ve never seen anything as dramatic as we’re seeing today,” said Eunice Rendon, coordinator of migrant advocacy group Agenda Migrante.

“This has everything to do with Trump,” she added.</s>TECUN UMAN, Guatemala (Reuters) - Hundreds of Central Americans in a U.S.-bound migrant caravan were stuck on Guatemala’s border with Mexico on Saturday as efforts began, under pressure from Washington, to send some home and stop their journey northward.

Many of the migrants, the overwhelming majority fleeing violence and poverty in Honduras, had slept through heavy rain overnight on a bridge connecting Guatemala to Mexico, as dozens crammed against a metal border gate guarded by Mexican police.

In the early morning hours, Guatemalan police said they had transported 62 Hondurans in two buses, among the first such efforts to remove migrants from the tense border crossing on the Suchiate River.

For days U.S. President Donald Trump has warned the Central American caravan must be stopped. He has made it a political issue in the Nov. 6 midterm U.S. congressional election, threatened to cut off regional aid, close the U.S.-Mexico border and deploy troops there if Mexico failed to halt the migrants.

Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez was due to meet his Guatemalan counterpart Jimmy Morales in the Guatemalan capital on Saturday for talks on implementing a strategy for returning the Honduran migrants.

Organizers said the caravan included around 4,000 migrants on Friday but there has been no official estimate of the sprawling number of men, women and children traveling north on foot and in vehicles.

“The (U.S.) tone is one of worry and they told us that we should act like allies,” a senior aide to Guatemala’s president told Reuters, requesting anonymity as he was not authorized to speak publicly.

“It’s really a very delicate situation because this could generate more caravans,” he said.

On Friday, hundreds of migrants at the head of the caravan had poured through Guatemalan border posts and onto the bridge, but were repelled by dozens of shield-bearing Mexican police. Several complained they had been teargassed.

Drained from days of walking and frustrated, many spent the night in the open. Some stretched towels and garbage bags along the bridge walls, others lay down on backpacks, while a man applied lotion to his tired feet.

Mexico’s government, which says it will process migrants’ claims for asylum individually, vowed to tackle the caravan as U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met top officials in Mexico City. Pompeo urged Mexico to ensure the procession did not reach the United States.

Most of the migrants Reuters spoke to said their ultimate destination was the United States. Some said they hoped to stay in Mexico, but they had no idea how to get the documentation needed to do so.

Still, many were determined to try.

“No, I’ll fight. I’ll try again,” said Honduran Hilda Rosa as her four teenage children sat upright, beaming as she pumped the air with her fist.

The native of Tegucigalpa told a familiar tale when asked why she had left Honduras: “You know why: no work, violence.”

Most of the people now caught trying to enter the United States illegally hail from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, among the poorest and most violent countries in the Americas.

The caravan members ranged from farmers and bakers to housewives and students, and included a whole block of friends and family from the Honduran city of El Progreso, some of whom said they would start going back to where they came from on Saturday.

Jose Ramon Rodriguez, 45, a construction worker from El Progreso, sat on the Guatemalan end of the bridge late on Friday with his head hanging low, his 9-year-old son tucked against him.

“Tomorrow we go home,” he said. His companions nodded.

Among them was Osman Melgar, who nursed a bleeding gash on his shin, suffered when he fell as dozens of people packed on the bridge began fleeing when police, according to several eyewitnesses, used tear gas.

Some, including 40-year-old Adriana Consuelo, went under the bridge, paying raftsmen 25 pesos ($1.30) to ferry them across the river on vessels made of giant rubber tires.

After making it to the muddy banks of Mexico, she said, “No one checked my documents,” as Consuelo headed to a taco restaurant.

But Mexico had stepped up its efforts to stop the flow of people, migration experts said.

“Every time there’s a (migrant) caravan there are police sent to the southern border ... but we’ve never seen anything as dramatic as we’re seeing today,” said Eunice Rendon, coordinator of migrant advocacy group Agenda Migrante.

“This has everything to do with Trump,” she added.</s>MEXICO CITY — President Donald Trump threatened to close the U.S.-Mexico border as a caravan of Central American migrants came closer to reaching the border on Thursday morning.

Trump asked Mexico to "stop this onslaught" of migrants coming to the southern border, in several tweets Thursday. He said if Mexico didn't stop the migrants, he would "CLOSE OUR SOUTHERN BORDER!"

Mexico's government dispatched two 727 Boeing planes filled with federal police officers to its southern border with Guatemala on Wednesday to intercept the caravan of migrants.

The Interior and Foreign Relations ministries said in a joint statement that any migrant in the caravan without proper immigration papers would be arrested and “returned to their country of origin.” Those with proper documents or wishing to apply for asylum would be allowed to enter Mexico.



The caravan of migrants set out last week from San Pedro Sula, Honduras, which has long been one of the hemisphere's most violent cities with a murder rate ranking among the highest in the world.

The group of migrants swelled to an estimated 4,000 people even as Trump has condemned them and threatened to cut aid to Honduras if government officials do not cooperate in preventing their trip to the U.S.

"The United States has strongly informed the President of Honduras that if the large Caravan of people heading to the U.S. is not stopped and brought back to Honduras, no more money or aid will be given to Honduras, effective immediately!" Trump tweeted on Tuesday.

He followed up Tuesday night with a similar threat, but added more Central American countries to his list. "We have today informed the countries of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador that if they allow their citizens, or others, to journey through their borders and up to the United States, with the intention of entering our country illegally, all payments made to them will STOP (END)!" he wrote.

Trump continued ranting about the caravan of migrants on Wednesday, lashing out at Democrats and accusing them of not wanting to boost border security.

"Hard to believe that with thousands of people from South of the Border, walking unimpeded toward our country in the form of large Caravans, that the Democrats won’t approve legislation that will allow laws for the protection of our country. Great Midterm issue for Republicans!" he wrote.

Honduran migrants heading to the United States arrive at the Casa del Migrante (Migrant's House) in Guatemala City on October 17, 2018.

Migrants have long streamed out of Central America in large numbers, increasingly as family units, in attempts to flee poverty and violence.

The "Northern Triangle" of Central America — Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador —rank among the most violent in the world, though homicide rates have fallen in recent years. Drug cartels move illegal merchandise through the region and street gangs control neighborhoods and routinely charge residents "rent" (a euphemism for extortion payments).

Caravans of migrants regularly convene as participants seek safety in numbers. Undocumented migrants transiting Mexico often fall victim to crimes such as kidnapping, extortion and rape — often committed by criminal gangs, drug cartels, coyotes and crooked public officials.
Hundreds of Central American migrants taking part in a migrant caravan to the United States clash with riot police on the Guatemala–Mexico border.