National guardsmen in riot gear have corralled hundreds of Central Americans and hauled them on to buses as Mexico continues with efforts to contain mass migration, under pressure from the Trump administration.
Security forces blocked the migrants’ path near the town of Frontera Hidalgo on Thursday afternoon, after hundreds had swept into Mexico across the Suchiate River that divides the country from Guatemala.
The migrants had stopped for the day at a shaded crossroads when security forces advanced and a brief attempt at negotiation stalled.
As the migrants knelt to the ground in prayer and began to chant “We want to pass,” national guardsmen advanced banging their plastic shields with batons. There was shoving and pepper spray as migrants were rounded up.
Many of the people allowed themselves to be escorted to the buses without resistance. Women cradling small children or holding kids’ hands wept as they walked toward the vehicles.
Others resisted and were subdued by guardsmen. One man dragged by four guardsmen shouted, “They killed my brother, I don’t want to die,” presumably in reference to the possibility of being returned to his country.
The road was left littered with water bottles, plastic bags and clothing.
Carrying US and Honduran flags at the head of the procession, the migrants had been walking on a highway toward hundreds of national guardsmen since crossing the Suchiate river from Guatemala at dawn.
Mexico has cracked down on the large caravans seen previously following intense pressure from Washington last year.
Aníbal, who declined to give his last name for fear of reprisal from immigration authorities, joined the majority Honduran caravan from his hometown of Santa Rosa, Guatemala. He and others rested in the shade of a tree on Thursday morning after walking for hours along the highway.
He was determined to get to the US, no matter where, and work to save money and return to his wife and three kids. Back home he worked part-time gigs as a laborer, machinist, selling used clothing, but there wasn’t enough work.
“They need to let us pass,” he said.
Asked about assertions from Mexico’s president that migration must be regular and orderly, he said: “He needs to have a little more compassion ... we’re going out of necessity. We’re not going for ambition.”
Thursday’s movement was a resurgence of a migrant caravan that had been diminishing since its last concerted attempt to cross the border on Monday was turned back by Mexican national guardsmen posted along Suchiate River, which forms the border here.
In previous caravans, Mexican authorities have allowed caravans to walk for a while, seemingly to tire them out, and then closed their path.