Mother in caravan: Trump has to receive us Story highlights NEW: Trump tweets again, saying aid to El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras could stop Guatemalan authorities have detained one of the caravan's coordinators Members of the caravan say insecurity and lack of jobs prompted them to join (CNN) — A new migrant caravan is heading to the United States. And US President Donald Trump has already weighed in, threatening to cut foreign aid to Honduras if the group isn’t brought back to the Central American country. The caravan, which organizers say numbers thousands of people, formed in the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula on Saturday and crossed into Guatemala on Monday. Guatemala detained one of the caravan’s coordinators on Tuesday, a Guatemalan government source told CNN. But other members of the caravan were still trekking north. The big question: Will authorities detain them before they reach the US border? The caravan met a police blockade in Guatemala Members of the group told CNN en Español that they decided to join the caravan and head to the United States because of insecurity and a lack of jobs in Honduras. Many are traveling with children in tow. As local media documented the first steps of the group’s journey over the weekend, government officials across the region spoke out, advising them to turn back. The US Embassy in Honduras warned of the dangers of the journey and noted that the United States would enforce its immigration laws. Mexico’s foreign ministry released a statement noting that travelers should consult its migration laws before trying to enter. “Please bear in mind that current legislation does not permit entry into Mexico if requirements to travel to a neighboring country have not been met,” the statement said. “To avoid surprises, please inform yourself before starting out.” But the caravan continued undeterred. Police in Esquipulas, Guatemala, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border, blocked their path for nearly two hours on Monday, according to local media reports, but eventually allowed them to continue their journey after the migrants refused to turn back. John Moore/Getty Images A caravan of Honduran migrants pauses at a Guatemalan police checkpoint after crossing the border from Honduras on October 15. By Tuesday morning, the caravan had caught the attention of Trump, who tweeted about it. He added two more tweets Tuesday night. “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 added, “Anybody entering the United States illegally will be arrested and detained, prior to being sent back to their country!” Vice President Mike Pence also had weighed in earlier, tweeting that he’d spoken with Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández and Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales. Trump’s message to Honduras, he said, also applies to Guatemala: “no more aid if it’s not stopped!” Spoke with Guatemalan President @jimmymoralesgt about caravan heading for the US & made clear our borders & sovereignty must be maintained. We expect our partners to do all they can to assist & appreciate their support. Reiterated @POTUS' message: no more aid if it’s not stopped! — Vice President Mike Pence Archived (@VP45) October 16, 2018 Bartolo Fuentes, one of the coordinators of the caravan, told CNN on Monday the group planned to apply for humanitarian visas in Mexico that would allow them to travel through the country to the US border. Many families in the caravan spent Monday night in Esquipulas and restarted their march north Tuesday morning. Moises Castillo/AP Honduran migrants sleep at an improvised shelter in Esquipulas, Guatemala, on Monday. Organizer arrested as governments speak out Guatemalan authorities detained Fuentes and two others on Tuesday, the Guatemalan government source told CNN. All three are set to be returned to Honduras in the coming hours, the source said. The reasons for their detention remain unclear. Fuentes, a former lawmaker from Honduras, told CNN Tuesday morning that police had been following him in Guatemala. Guatemala’s foreign ministry issued a statement saying its authorities would take necessary steps “to identify and document the people who entered Guatemalan territory in an irregular manner.” In addition, the statement said, authorities have been instructed “to take necessary and appropriate measures to guarantee order and national security.” The Honduran foreign ministry also issued a statement Tuesday evening, decrying the march as a political move aimed at “altering the governability, stability and peace of our countries.” Officials urged members of the caravan not to allow themselves to be used. The caravan “was organized by political sectors with false promises,” the statement said. “The organizers are deceiving the people, making them believe that if they arrive in the United States, they will be welcomed.” Six months ago, another high-profile caravan headed to the border This caravan’s emergence comes nearly six months after another caravan consisting largely of Honduran immigrants reached the US-Mexico border. That group’s approach sparked a Twitter tirade by Trump, and days later spurred his decision to deploy National Guard troops to the US-Mexico border. Trump also threatened foreign aid to Honduras at that time. Ultimately, hundreds of migrants from that group crossed the US border and asked for asylum. Leaders of the new caravan told CNN en Español that it formed spontaneously and was organized through social networks. This caravan’s formation also comes just weeks before high-stakes midterm elections in the United States, in which many Republican candidates have been echoing the President’s messaging about boosting border security and cracking down on illegal immigration. And no matter what happens next to these migrants, their caravan is likely to come up on the campaign trail. “We are concerned that these migrants have been the victims of false promises by those seeking to exploit them,” a State Department spokesperson said Tuesday. US Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Katie Waldman said the agency is monitoring the caravan and working with Central American countries and Mexico on the matter. “As we have said time and again, until Congress acts, we will continue to have de facto open borders that guarantees future ‘caravans’ and record numbers of family units entering the country illegally,” Waldman said. Honduras receives millions in US foreign aid Honduras, the second-poorest country in Central America, is plagued by widespread gang violence. San Pedro Sula, where this caravan began, has been described as one of the world’s murder capitals. Honduras is set to receive more than $65 million in foreign aid from the United States in the 2019 fiscal year, according to a US government website tracking foreign assistance, which describes “alarming levels of crime and violence, high levels of poverty and food insecurity, and ineffective governance and corruption” in Honduras. Experts have argued that US foreign aid has helped stem violence in the Central American country. And that without it, migration is likely to increase. CNN’s Leyla Santiago, Geneva Sands, Gremaud Angee, Natalie Gallón, Jennifer Hansler, Elvin Sandoval and Michelle Mendoza contributed to this report.<doc-sep>Hundreds more Hondurans have joined a caravan of migrants moving toward the country’s border with Guatemala in a desperate attempt to flee poverty and seek new lives in the United States. Dunia Montoya, a volunteer assisting the migrants, said Sunday that the group had grown to an estimated 1,600 people from an initial 160 who first gathered early Friday in a northern Honduras city. Caravan participants planned to spend Sunday night at a community center in the town of Ocotepeque before attempting to cross into Guatemala on Monday. Montoya said many in the group might not be allowed to enter Guatemala because they lack official identification documents. The migration began to swell after local media coverage of the initial group whose members had agreed to depart together Friday from a bus station in San Pedro Sula, one of the most dangerous cities in Honduras. Hundreds more soon joined the ranks, wagering a mass exit could improve their chances for getting over borders. Many had already planned to leave Honduras and also felt traveling in numbers could lessen chances of falling victim to robbery and assault that often plague migrants. Families arrived with infants in their arms and toddlers in strollers. They packed light, most carrying little more than a backpack. The caravan formed just one day after U.S. Vice President Mike Pence urged the presidents of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala to persuade their citizens to stay home. “Tell your people: Don’t put your families at risk by taking the dangerous journey north to attempt to enter the United States illegally,” said Pence. U.S. President Donald Trump threatened in April to withdraw foreign aid from Honduras and countries that allowed transit for a similar caravan that set out from the Central American country earlier this year. That caravan dwindled as the group approached the U.S. border, with some giving up along the way and others splitting off to try to cross on their own. Frustration with poverty is a common explanation by migrants for participating in the latest caravan. About 65 percent of Honduras’ people are poor and many get by on the equivalent of a dollar or two a day. The country of 9.4 million people has also led the world for homicide rates in recent years. Roberto Castro, one of the travelers in the caravan, said via telephone that he is a 26-year-old bus driver and construction worker, when there is work. These days, there is none, he said. Most of the migrants are on foot, walking shoulder-to-shoulder, 15 deep, at the edges of roads. Trucks with empty cargo holds have stopped intermittently to pick some up and get them as far along as possible. Other Hondurans handed out bottled water and food in a show of support. Castro said he grabbed a change of clothes — a T-shirt and pants — and joined the group Friday after not hearing for days from the mother of his two young children. He put her and the kids on a bus heading north from San Pedro Sula two weeks ago. He began crying as he described his worry about finding them at one of the many waystations between Honduras and the U.S. “It hurts,” he said between tears, “because one just wants an opportunity.” Mexico’s Interior Ministry issued a stern reminder Saturday that Mexico does not issue entry visas for those who don’t meet “the requirements to transit toward a neighboring country.” Also, Mexico said it issues visas at its consulates abroad, not at border entry points. FOLLOW NBC LATINO ON FACEBOOK, TWITTER AND INSTAGRAM.<doc-sep>WASHINGTON — A caravan of migrants fleeing Honduras has grown to 4,000, and the Mexican government has sent 500 additional federal police to its border with Guatemala in anticipation of their arrival, according to U.S. government documents obtained by NBC News. Part of the caravan, which has split into two groups, is approaching the Mexico-Guatemala border amid a surge in border crossings on the U.S.-Mexico border. In September, U.S. Border Patrol agents apprehended more than 41,400 undocumented immigrants, up from 37,544 in August, according to numbers not yet released publicly but obtained by NBC News. The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the numbers of families and children traveling on their own surged to record levels in September. Shelters and churches along the border have been flooded as a result of the surge as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have been releasing hundreds of migrants from detention at a time. Many of the Hondurans traveling in the caravan are children, some traveling with their parents and some without, according to the documents. Because children are afforded special protections in the United States, their arrival is creating anxiety within the Trump administration, which has pledged to decrease illegal immigration. President Donald Trump said last week that he would consider separating migrant families at the border once again, after reversing his controversial "zero tolerance" policy in June. U.S. Customs and Border Protection is tracking the caravan as the Hondurans make their way north toward the U.S. border. Meanwhile, the State Department is trying to stave off that possibility by compelling the Mexican government to stop them at its border with Guatemala. Honduran immigrants get on trucks in Zacapa, Guatemala, on Wednesday. Esteban Biba / EPA Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel to Mexico to meet with his counterparts on Friday, and plans to stop the caravan will be a "prominent" topic of discussion, a senior State Department official told reporters on Wednesday. "I am certain that there will be conversations in Mexico about how we can work together on this issue," the official said about the caravan. "We are certainly looking for concrete results and for solutions that work for both countries." Trump has threatened to cut aid to Honduras and Guatemala if their governments do not stop the caravan. It remains to be seen what pressure the United States will put on Mexico, but a senior Homeland Security official said border agents were hopeful that State Department negotiations would significantly curb the numbers that reach the United States. The deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala, David Hodge, arrived on Wednesday at Casa del Migrante, where hundreds of Honduran migrants continue to arrive. He told them not to continue traveling to the north. Hodge said in an interview that he was there to tell the migrants "that President Trump's message was clear — that anyone who enters the United States illegally will be arrested before being deported." "The United States government is very aware of the security and prosperity problems in the countries of the Northern Triangle, but we are investing hundreds of millions of dollars every year to improve situations," he said, referring to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. "People need their future in their country, and they must return to their country," he said. Police have been sent in part to quell protesters in the state of Chiapas, which borders Guatemala, who are advocating for the safe treatment of the immigrants, according to the documents. Cooperating with the United States on strict border policies has been met with a serious backlash in Mexico, and it contributed to the election of President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador. López Obrador said Wednesday that when he takes office on Dec. 1, his administration will "give jobs to Central Americans. It is a plan that we have, that anyone who wants to work in Mexico will have a work visa." He said he had told Trump that he wanted to emphasize options besides deportation, including work, for Central Americans.<doc-sep>
A caravan of migrants from Honduras continued north toward Mexico and the United States on Tuesday as President Donald Trump threatened to withdraw aid from the country over the group — despite the fact that the group was in Guatemala. "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 Tuesday morning. Tuesday evening he expanded his warning to include Guatemala and El Salvador. "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)!" Trump tweeted. Various estimates put the group at 1,600 to around 2,000 people. Overnight, they stayed in Esquipulas, a Guatemalan town after a short initial standoff with police trying to prevent them from advancing. The Honduran Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation exhorted its citizens to stop participating in the caravan because it will put their lives at risk. In a statement Tuesday the ministry said that migrants had been lured north by false promises that Mexico would allow their passage and the United States would grant them asylum. Before heading further north on Tuesday, dozens attended Mass at a local Roman Catholic basilica to receive a blessing for their journey, according to The Associated Press. On Tuesday, they were heading north toward the city of Chiquimula. Guatemala's Red Cross said Tuesday that it had provided care to nearly 400 people associated with the caravan. A Guatemalan priest estimated that more than 2,000 migrants had been fed at three shelters run by the Roman Catholic Church. Later Tuesday, Vice President Mike Pence said on Twitter that he had spoken to Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez and told him "no more aid if caravan is not stopped." Hernandez has previously said cuts in U.S. support for Central American countries would hinder attempt to slow illegal immigration. The Central Americans refugees said they were fleeing violence and poverty in Honduras and seeking a better life in Mexico and the United States. Carlos Reyes, 20, told the AP he was fleeing after men tried to kill him a week prior because he is gay. A caravan of more than 1,500 Honduran migrants pause after crossing into Guatemala on Oct. 15 in Esquipulas, Guatemala. John Moore / Getty Images Meanwhile on Tuesday afternoon, Guatemalan authorities detained former Honduran lawmaker and caravan organizer Bartolo Fuentes, the AP reported, citing an anonymous official with Guatemala's migration agency. Fuentes and two others were reportedly detained for not having registered with migration officials when they entered the country. The group was met by about 100 Guatemalan police officers, some in riot gear, at the border. Some of migrants held a large banner of the Honduran flag, while another migrant in front waved a Honduran flag high in the air as they approached the officers, who initially did not let them pass. There was a standoff for about two hours before the migrants began walking again, according to the AP. At that point, officers did not stop the group but walked with them several miles into Guatemala, according to the AP. The officers then set up a roadblock outside of Esquipulas, the AP reported, telling them they had to go through immigration at the border, but the group refused and eventually police let them pass. On Tuesday, Guatemala's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that in response to the situation it would help the migrants currently in their country, saying officials would carry out the necessary actions to "identify and document those who came into the country irregularly to the Guatemalan territory in order to regularize their migratory situation" and provide assistance with health, safety and protection. Previously, Guatemala’s Institute of Migration had said the country "does not promote or endorse irregular migration in any forms" and said the caravan was not respecting the nation’s migration laws. Mexican authorities have also said the migrants who did not comply with legal requirements to enter the country would not be allowed entry. The group began with an initial roughly 160 people who had gathered early Friday at San Pedro Sula to depart north with higher safety in numbers.