According to Fox News, Mexico says it will block hundreds of immigrants who have left Honduras in an attempt to reach the United States border. The interior ministry said officers would check the status of each migrant and offer them the option of remaining in the country legally. The move comes as the Trump administration continues to put pressure on Mexico to shift the burden of dealing with asylum seekers on to them.
“Mexico is not only a transit country… In no way we have transit visas or safe passage,” said Mexico’s Interior Minister Olga Sánchez Cordero, who warned that the migrants would be met by special operations and immigration agents, the BBC reported.
She told journalists that an estimated 600 migrants had left Honduras on Wednesday. Guatemala’s new President Alejandro Giammattei had received assurances from Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard that Mexico would “do everything in their powers to stop” the group.”
“By joining the caravan you place your life in the hands of criminals,” wrote Mark Morgan, acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, in a tweet. “Mexico has been clear it will not allow passage and the U.S. will remove you.”
On Wednesday, Honduran authorities fired tear gas after people tried crossing into Guatemala without going through checks.