Migrants Swim, Raft Their Way Into Mexico as They Head for US

Some weary migrants stranded on a bridge in Guatemala on its border with Mexico decided Saturday to swim and wade their way into Mexico. Others paid locals $1.25 to ferry them across the muddy water in rafts made out of giant rubber tires.

Mexican police saw them, but were preoccupied with the thousands of migrants sweltering on the bridge who are vying to gain entry into Mexico, the last stop on the journey, they hope, before entering the United States.

U.S. President Donald Trump has warned that the migrant caravan that began in Honduras and is now in Guatemala must be stopped before it reaches the U.S. Trump has made the migrant caravan a political issue in the November mid-term congressional elections, threatened to cut off regional aid, close the U.S.-Mexico border and deploy troops there if Mexico fails to halt the migrants.

The Red Cross said in a statement Saturday that “many of the people they are supporting, a majority of who are women and children, are suffering from dehydration, stomach infections, and foot injuries as they walk the long journey.”

Walter Cotte, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies regional director for the Americas, said in a statement: “It is imperative that the dignity and security of families are safeguarded and they they are kept together.”

Mexico has refused mass entry to the migrants on the bridge, but has instead accepted small groups for processing. Individuals must show a passport or visa to cross the border, or apply for refugee status.

Mexico’s government has sought assistance from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to help process migrants claiming refugee status, which could help it to disperse the caravan.

Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Videgaray said in an interview with the Televisa network that those who want to apply for refuge in Mexico will be welcome to do so “if they have a vulnerable situation in their country of origin.”

Most of the migrants are Hondurans who cite widespread poverty and gang violence as their reasons for wanting to leave their country. Honduras has one of the world’s deadliest homicide rates. “One cannot live back there,” Fidelina Vasquez, a grandmother traveling with her daughter and two-year old grandson told the Associated Press.

After an emergency meeting in Guatemala, the presidents of Honduras and Guatemala said an estimated 5,400 migrants have entered Guatemala since the caravan was announced a week ago and about 2,000 people have returned voluntarily to Honduras.

 

 

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