Yayım tarihi

Çetelerin tehditlerinden kaçıp göçmen kervanına katıldı

MEKSİKO (AA) – ALEJANDRO MELGOZA – Meksika'nın başkenti Meksiko'da, devletin, sivil toplum kuruluşları ve gönüllülerin desteğiyle oluşturduğu büyük sığınma merkezinde birkaç gün geçirdikten sonra bir kısmı ABD sınırına ulaşan Orta Amerikalı göçmen konvoyu zorlu yolculuğuna devam ediyor.

Göçmen konvoyundaki El Salvadorlu genç Maguin Alexander Quintanilla, çetelerden aldığı ölüm tehditleri nedeniyle çıktığı zorlu yolculuğu, memleketindeki hayat mücadelesini ve hayalini AA muhabirine anlattı.

Yanına sadece bir çanta ve birkaç dolar alarak 4 hafta önce memleketinden ayrılan Alexander, konvoya katılmadan önce, bir köyünde yaşadığı El Salvador'un Santa Isabel Ishuatan kentinde ekmek satarak geçimini sağladığını söyledi.

– Çeteler 20 gün süre verdi

Alexander, Orta Amerika ülkelerinde etkili olan MS-13 (Mara Salvatrucha) ile M-18 (Barrio 18) çetelerinin, kendisinin yaşadığı köy ve çalıştığı kentte büyük bir güç mücadelesi içinde olduklarına işaret etti.

"Kazandığım 13 doların 10'unu haraç olarak istediler, reddedince de ölümle tehdit edip yaşadığım yeri terk etmem için 20 gün süre verdiler." diyen Alexander, çeteler tarafından telefonu gasbedilen ve yolculuğa birlikte çıktıkları kız kardeşinin de aynı tehditlere maruz kaldığını anlattı.

– Göçmen konvoyunu TV'de gördü

Çetelerden tehdit aldığı gün, televizyonda göçmen konvoyunu ve konvoya tek başına katılan bir çocuğu gördüğünü söyleyen Alexander, şöyle devam etti:

"O çocuğu görünce kervana katılmak için içim kıpır kıpır oldu. Anneme bunu söyledim fakat ailem karşı çıktı. Ben de 'Sürekli evde kalarak hayatımı devam ettiremem. Sizleri de ileriye taşıyacak bir şey yapmak zorundayım. Ben gurbette çalışırken sizin de burada benim çalışarak sağlayacağım destekle bir iş kurmanızı istiyorum' dedim."

El Salvador'da kalmış olması durumunda, "tüm ülkeyi saran bu şiddet ve fakirlik çemberinden" asla çıkamayacağından emin olduğunu vurgulayan Alexander, annesinin safra kesesindeki taşlar, babasının da beyin kanaması geçirmesi nedeniyle göçmen konvoyuna katılamadığını dile getirdi.

Alexander, "El Salvador'da iş var. Fakat çok az para veriyorlar. Sabah 5'ten gün ortasına kadar çalışıp 5 dolar kazanıyorsun ama yemek için 10 harcaman gerekiyor." dedi.

Köyündeki hayat şartlarının zorluğuna değinen Alexander, liseyi terk ederek çalışmaya başladığını söyledi.

Alexander, bazen hava şartlarının yetiştirdikleri mısırlara zarar verdiğini, böyle olunca da ailesi ile sadece fasulye ve yufka yemek zorunda kaldıklarını, işler iyi gittiğinde ise yalnızca yumurta alabildiklerini dile getirdi.

Bunun yanı sıra "şiddet ve yolsuzluğun vurduğu köyündeki ailelerin çoğunun" hayatlarının bu şekilde olduğuna işaret eden Alexander, ayrıca çocukluk arkadaşlarının çoğunun Las Maras'a katıldığını ya da başka yollarla bir şekilde suça bulaştığını anlattı.

Alexander, tüm bunların, yolculuk boyunca ayaklarında çıkan nasırları, derisinde oluşan yaraları, yıkanmadan geçen günleri, kirli elbiseleri giymek zorunda kalmasını ve yağmur altında aç karnına yürüdüğü saatleri unutturduğunu ifade etti.

Kaç kilometre yürüdüğünü ya da kaç şehirden geçtiğini bilmeyen ve yolculuğun büyük bölümünü iletişim araçları olmadan sürdüren Alexander, ailesine ise sadece cep telefonlarını ödünç kullandığı Meksikalılar sayesinde mesaj gönderebildiğinin söyledi.

– Motosiklet tamirhanesi açmak istiyor

"Geri dönecek hiçbir şeyim yok." dese de yolda bir ara göçmen konvoyundan ayrılmayı aklından geçirdiğini belirten El Salvadorlu Maguin Alexander Quintanilla sözlerini şöyle tamamladı:

"Toprakla çalışmanın yanında tesisatçılık, garsonluk, aşçı yamaklığı ve tamircilik yaptım. Birden fazla meslekte çalışabilirim. ABD'de motosiklet tamirhanesi açmak istiyorum."

Yayım tarihi

Trump says up to 15,000 troops may be sent to border

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) – U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday he could send as many as 15,000 service members to the country’s border with Mexico as a migrant caravan makes its way through Mexico on its way to the U.S.

Trump continued to harden his stance on the caravan during remarks to reporters at the White House, saying he could send between 10,000 to 15,000 troops to the border as the group, which originated in Central America, heads north.

There are currently 2,100 National Guardsmen deployed to the U.S.'s southern border to assist immigration enforcement efforts. An additional 5,200 troops would be sent to reinforce efforts, the Pentagon said.

It identified an additional 2,000 that could be deployed, but it is unclear how the upper ceiling the president identified could be met.

Asked earlier Wednesday if the deployment is a political stunt, Defense Secretary James Mattis said "we don't do stunts in this department".

Trump has ramped up his anti-immigrant rhetoric ahead of next Tuesday's midterm elections, targeting specifically the caravan, which he claims is replete with criminals and terrorists. It is over 800 miles (1,287 kilometers) away from the U.S.

Trump denied criticism that he is fear mongering.

"Nobody is coming in. We're not allowing people to come in," he said. "Immigration is a very, very big and very dangerous — a really dangerous topic."

Trump has threatened to cut off foreign assistance to the three countries where most of the migrants in the caravan originated from — El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras — claiming authorities in the countries have not done enough to stop the migrant flow.

After initially saying the U.S. would cut off aid to the Central American countries, Trump appeared to walk back the threat by saying Washington is "thinking very seriously” about “immediately stopping aid to those countries, because, frankly, they're doing nothing for the American people”.

The countries have been hit hard by gang violence and economic woes, leading many of their residents to seek a better life in the U.S.

While Trump has sought to blame Democrats for undocumented immigration, such as the caravan, he has been unable to pass immigration reform legislation during his nearly two years in office despite Republicans holding the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Two immigration bills Trump backed failed in the legislature.

Trump has long promised to build a wall along the U.S.' southern border to thwart illegal immigration, initially vowing to have Mexico pay for it. But Mexico has staunchly refused the suggestion, forcing Trump to seek appropriations from Congress to fund the barrier.

He has yet to be able to fulfill his campaign pledge.

Yayım tarihi

Migrant caravan weaves through Mexico amid US threats

By Alix Hardy

TAPACHULA, Mexico (AA) – A caravan of more than 7,000 migrants was slowly making its way through Mexico on Monday, two days after most of it illegally crossed the country’s southern border with Guatemala as America’s president pressured Central American countries to halt it.

After spending their second night in the town of Tapachula, the migrants took to the road once more under the sweltering sun to reach Huixtla, a town about 40 kilometers (25 miles) to the north in the Chiapas region.

The Red Cross, which was absent the previous day, was taking care of pregnant women on the trail. The caravan counts many women and children — a lot of them very young — whom their parents carry on their shoulders or in their arms.

“This is an exodus without precedent,” Ruben Figueroa, coordinator of the Mesoamerican Migrant Movement, told Anadolu Agency in the small border town of Ciudad Hidalgo.

The caravan mostly consists of Hondurans who are fleeing their violent and poverty-stricken country.

“I had to go for my son — to offer him a better life,” said 23-year-old Jessica Velasquez during the caravan’s haul to Tapachula as 2-year-old Santiago smiled. She said in Honduras, she and her husband could not afford to buy a house and had trouble renting a place as they couldn’t find work anymore.

“If you go to a hospital in Honduras, you will not find medication. We are not leaving because we want to, but because we need to,” 22-year-old Honduran mother Sindy Sandoval added.

She left her two children back in Honduras and plans to get a job in the U.S. to send money back home so that her younger siblings and her children can afford to go to school.

A lot of migrants fled because of the violent criminal groups that extort those with jobs.

“It’s called a ‘war tax’, and if you can’t pay it, you risk death,” said a Honduran migrant, who declined to give his name.

Numerous migrants also referred to President Juan Orlando Hernandez as being a factor of leaving.

“Since he came to power five years ago, things have worsened,” said Santiago’s grandfather, José.

The migrants were happy to be in Mexico, as it meant they were getting closer to their final goal — the United States. But many of them also said they were worried about Mexican authorities. Since the vast majority of them entered the country illegally, they risk being deported.

So far, local police have not tried to stop the caravan. During the walk from the border to Tapachula, police set up road blocks twice with hundreds of riot-control equipped officers, but they were lifted before the migrants got there.

The caravan arrived at the Guatemala-Mexico border Friday. After crossing a metal fence, thousands of migrants were stuck for more than 24 hours on the border bridge that crosses the Suchiate River, waiting for the Mexican border to open. When it did not, an increasing number of migrants decided to cross illegally using rafts. By Saturday night, only a thousand were left waiting on the bridge, while the others were on Mexican land, unauthorized.

Mexico’s National Institute of Migration said Sunday they had processed around a thousand asylum applications.

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto reminded migrants Sunday that "going undocumented would make it extremely difficult to reach their goal, being reaching the U.S. or settling in Mexico".

“These caravans reveal the breaches in the migration policies of the countries they go through,” Figueroa told Anadolu Agency in Ciudad Hidalgo’s main square as migrants kept coming in from the muddy banks of the Suchiate River they had just crossed.

Another group of about a thousand Honduran migrants is making its way through Guatemala on foot towards the Mexican border, Guatemalan police confirmed Monday.

On Twitter, U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday he would “begin cutting off, or substantially reducing” the “massive” foreign aid that Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador receive from the U.S. as they “were not able to do the job” — a claim he had already made days prior and to which migrants in Tapachula only reacted to with disdain.

“If money is sent over to Honduras, then I’ve never seen the color of it in my life,” said Sindy Sandoval while resting with her family in the house of a Guatemalan woman before crossing the river on a raft hours later.

Conveniently reminding U.S. voters that midterm elections were coming up, Trump insisted the caravan, which is still some 2,500 kilometers (1,553 miles) away from the U.S.-Mexican border, was a “national emergency”.

“Criminals and unknown Middle Easterners are mixed in,” he added, without providing evidence to support his statement.

It was a claim that numerous reporters covering the caravan dismissed as false.

"This caravan is not about one country. It's the reflection of what is happening in the region, and the crisis should be addressed regionally. It's not about borders," the Fifth General Visitor of the National Commission of Human Rights, Edgar Corzo Sosa, said in Tapachula.

Mexican President-elect Lopez Obrador, who will be sworn in on Dec. 1, has stated various times that he plans to offer migrants work visas. His incoming foreign affairs secretary, Marcelo Ebrard, said Monday that the future government would "considerably change its migration policies" as well as invest in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.

Yayım tarihi

UPDATE 2 – Trump: US to begin cutting aid to Central America

ADDS TRUMP DOUBLING DOWN ON 'MIDDLE EASTERNERS' COMMENTS IN GRAFS 10-11

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) – Washington will begin cutting foreign assistance to three Central American countries plagued by violence and poverty over a migrant caravan winding its way towards America, U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday.

"Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador were not able to do the job of stopping people from leaving their country and coming illegally to the U.S.," Trump said on Twitter.

In retaliation, Trump said, the U.S. "will now begin cutting off, or substantially reducing, the massive foreign aid routinely given to them." He previously threatened to take the action, but with Congress on recess until after next month's midterm elections it is unclear to what extent he can take such action.

The comments come as a migrant caravan makes its way north through Mexico bound for the U.S. border. It originated in Honduras, which along with Guatemala and El Salvador, has been hit hard by gang violence and economic woes.

All three of the countries underwent violent civil wars in the 1980's.

"Sadly, it looks like Mexico’s Police and Military are unable to stop the Caravan heading to the Southern Border of the United States," Trump said.

"Criminals and unknown Middle Easterners are mixed in," Trump added without providing evidence to support his claims. "I have alerted Border Patrol and Military that this is a National Emergency. "

Responding to Trump's claim regarding people of Middle Eastern origin, outgoing Republican Senator Jeff Flake dismissed the suggestion as a "canard" and "fear tactic."

"These, for the most part, overwhelmingly are people who are either fleeing violence or looking for a better life," Flake, who has often been at odds with the president, said during an event hosted by CNN. "Obviously we can't accept everyone. We have to have border security. But it needs to be done in a thoughtful manner."

But Trump was unswayed during remarks to reporters at the White House, telling a journalist to go into the group and investigate.

"You're going to find MS-13," Trump said, referring to a notorious street gang that formed in Los Angeles, California. "You're going to find Middle Eastern. You’re going to find everything. And guess what? We’re not allowing them in our country. We want safety.”

Estimates on the size of the group of migrants seeking to come to the U.S. vary, ranging from 5,000 to over 7,000. Aerial images appear to depict a crowd stretching for miles.

Trump has focused his attention on the group repeatedly as the Nov. 6 midterm elections near, saying Monday that voters should "blame the Democrats," his political opponents, for undocumented migration.

"Every time you see a Caravan, or people illegally coming, or attempting to come, into our Country illegally, think of and blame the Democrats for not giving us the votes to change our pathetic Immigration Laws! Remember the Midterms! So unfair to those who come in legally," he said.

While Trump has sought to blame Democrats for undocumented immigration, such as the caravan, he has been unable to pass immigration reform legislation during his nearly two years in office despite Republicans holding the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Two immigration bills Trump backed failed in the legislature.

Trump has long promised to build a wall along the U.S.'s southern border to thwart illegal immigration, initially vowing to have Mexico pay for it. But the U.S.'s southern neighbor has staunchly refused the suggestion, forcing Trump to seek appropriations from Congress to fund the barrier.

He has yet to be able to fulfill his campaign pledge.

Yayım tarihi

UPDATE – Trump: US to begin cutting aid to Central America

ADDS FLAKE COMMENTS IN GRAFS 8-9

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) – Washington will begin cutting foreign assistance to three Central American countries plagued by violence and poverty over a migrant caravan winding its way towards America, U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday.

"Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador were not able to do the job of stopping people from leaving their country and coming illegally to the U.S.," Trump said on Twitter.

In retaliation, Trump said, the U.S. "will now begin cutting off, or substantially reducing, the massive foreign aid routinely given to them." He previously threatened to take the action, but with Congress on recess until after next month's midterm elections it is unclear to what extent he can take such action.

The comments come as a migrant caravan makes its way north through Mexico bound for the U.S. border. It originated in Honduras, which along with Guatemala and El Salvador, has been hit hard by gang violence and economic woes.

All three of the countries underwent violent civil wars in the 1980's.

"Sadly, it looks like Mexico’s Police and Military are unable to stop the Caravan heading to the Southern Border of the United States," Trump said.

"Criminals and unknown Middle Easterners are mixed in," Trump added without providing evidence to support his claims. "I have alerted Border Patrol and Military that this is a National Emergency. "

Responding to Trump's claim regarding people of Middle Eastern origin, outgoing Republican Senator Jeff Flake dismissed the suggestion as a "canard" and "fear tactic."

"These, for the most part, overwhelmingly are people who are either fleeing violence or looking for a better life," Flake, who has often been at odds with the president, said during an event hosted by CNN. "Obviously we can't accept everyone. We have to have border security. But it needs to be done in a thoughtful manner."

Estimates on the size of the group of migrants seeking to come to the U.S. vary, ranging from 5,000 to over 7,000. Aerial images appear to depict a crowd stretching for miles.

Trump has focused his attention on the group repeatedly as the Nov. 6 midterm elections near, saying Monday that voters should "blame the Democrats," his political opponents, for undocumented migration.

"Every time you see a Caravan, or people illegally coming, or attempting to come, into our Country illegally, think of and blame the Democrats for not giving us the votes to change our pathetic Immigration Laws! Remember the Midterms! So unfair to those who come in legally," he said.

While Trump has sought to blame Democrats for undocumented immigration, such as the caravan, he has been unable to pass immigration reform legislation during his nearly two years in office despite Republicans holding the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Two immigration bills Trump backed failed in the legislature.

Trump has long promised to build a wall along the U.S.'s southern border to thwart illegal immigration, initially vowing to have Mexico pay for it. But the U.S.'s southern neighbor has staunchly refused the suggestion, forcing Trump to seek appropriations from Congress to fund the barrier.

He has yet to be able to fulfill his campaign pledge.

Yayım tarihi

Trump: US to begin cutting aid to Central America

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) – Washington will begin cutting foreign assistance to three Central American countries plagued by violence and poverty over a migrant caravan winding its way towards America, U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday.

"Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador were not able to do the job of stopping people from leaving their country and coming illegally to the U.S.," Trump said on Twitter.

In retaliation, Trump said, the U.S. "will now begin cutting off, or substantially reducing, the massive foreign aid routinely given to them." He previously threatened to take the action, but with Congress on recess until after next month's midterm elections it is unclear to what extent he can take such action.

The comments come as a migrant caravan makes its way north through Mexico bound for the U.S. border. It originated in Honduras, which along with Guatemala and El Salvador, has been hit hard by gang violence and economic woes.

All three of the countries underwent violent civil wars in the 1980's.

"Sadly, it looks like Mexico’s Police and Military are unable to stop the Caravan heading to the Southern Border of the United States," Trump said.

"Criminals and unknown Middle Easterners are mixed in," Trump added without providing evidence to support his claims. "I have alerted Border Patrol and Military that this is a National Emergency. "

Estimates on the size of the group of migrants seeking to come to the U.S. vary, ranging from 5,000 to over 7,000. Aerial images appear to depict a crowd stretching for miles.

Trump has focused his attention on the group repeatedly as the Nov. 6 midterm elections near, saying Monday that voters should "blame the Democrats," his political opponents, for undocumented migration.

"Every time you see a Caravan, or people illegally coming, or attempting to come, into our Country illegally, think of and blame the Democrats for not giving us the votes to change our pathetic Immigration Laws! Remember the Midterms! So unfair to those who come in legally," he said.

While Trump has sought to blame Democrats for undocumented immigration, such as the caravan, he has been unable to pass immigration reform legislation during his nearly two years in office despite Republicans holding the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Two immigration bills Trump backed failed in the legislature.

Trump has long promised to build a wall along the U.S.'s southern border to thwart illegal immigration, initially vowing to have Mexico pay for it. But the U.S.'s southern neighbor has staunchly refused the suggestion, forcing Trump to seek appropriations from Congress to fund the barrier.

He has yet to be able to fulfill his campaign pledge.

Yayım tarihi

Guatemala, Honduras ve El Salvador'a yardımı kesme açıklaması

NEW YORK (AA) – ABD Başkanı Donald Trump, Orta Amerika'dan ABD'ye ulaşmaya çalışan göçmenleri durduramadıkları için Guatemala, Honduras ve El Salvador'a dış yardımları kesmeye ya da büyük ölçüde azaltılmaya başlayacaklarını açıkladı.

Trump, Twitter hesabından yaptığı açıklamada, Meksika polisi ve ordusunun, ABD'nin güney sınırına gelen göçmenleri durduramadığını, bunun ulusal acil bir durum olduğunu ve sınırdaki devriyeleri harekete geçirdiğini belirtti.

Göçmeleri "suçlu ve kimliği belirsiz Ortadoğulular" olarak nitelendiren Trump, ABD'ye yasa dışı yollardan gelen veya gelmeye çalışan göçmenlerden, göçmen yasalarının değişmesine "izin vermeyen" Demokratların sorumlu tutulması gerektiğini ifade etti.

Trump, "Guatemala, Honduras ve El Salvador, göçmenlerin ülkelerini terk etmelerine ve ABD'ye yasa dışı yoldan gelmelerine engel olamadı. Biz de şimdi onlara rutin olarak verilen yabancı yardımları kesmeye ya da büyük ölçüde azaltmaya başlayacağız." değerlendirmesinde bulundu.

Orta Amerika'dan ABD'ye ulaşma ümidiyle yola çıkan binlerce göçmenin oluşturduğu konvoy, Meksika'nın Guatemala sınırına dayandı.

Suchiate Nehri'nde Meksika ile Guatemala'yı birbirine bağlayan köprü ve sınır kapısında toplanan, geceyi burada uyuyarak geçiren 3 binden fazla göçmenin ülkeye girişine izin verilmedi.

Bazı göçmenlerin tel örgüleri aşarak tarafsız bölgeye geçtiği ve Meksika güvenlik güçlerinin müdahalesiyle karşılaştığı bildirildi. Polis, taş atan göstericilere göz yaşartıcı gazla müdahale etti.

Honduraslı göçmenlerden bazıları da sallarla Meksika tarafına geçmek için Suchiate Nehri'ne atladı.

Meksikalı yetkililer, aralarında kadın, çocuk ve yaşlıların da bulunduğu göçmenlerden, geçerli belgeleri taşıyanların kurallara uygun biçimde ülkeye girişine izin verileceğini bildirmişti.

Yayım tarihi

Binlerce göçmen Guatemala-Meksika sınırında mahsur kaldı

TECUN UMAN (AA) – Orta Amerika'dan ABD'ye ulaşma ümidiyle yola çıkan binlerce göçmenin oluşturduğu konvoy, Meksika'nın Guatemala sınırına dayandı.

Suchiate Nehri üzerinde Meksika ile Guatemala'yı birbirine bağlayan köprüde ve sınır kapısında toplanan, geceyi burada uyuyarak geçiren 3 binden fazla göçmenin ülkeye girişine izin verilmedi.

Bazı göçmenlerin tel örgüleri aşarak tarafsız bölgeye geçtiği ve Meksika güvenlik güçlerinin müdahalesiyle karşılaştığı bildirildi. Polis, taş atan göstericilere göz yaşartıcı gazla müdahale etti.

Honduraslı göçmenlerden bazıları da sallarla Meksika tarafına geçmek için Suchiate Nehri'ne atladı.

Meksikalı yetkililer, aralarında kadın, çocuk ve yaşlıların bulunduğu göçmenlerden, geçerli belgeleri taşıyanların kurallara uygun biçimde ülkeye girişine izin verileceğini bildirdi.

Meksika Devlet Başkanı Enrique Pena Nieto, büyük bir göçmen grubunun "düzensiz biçimde Meksika topraklarına girmeye çalıştığını, federal polis birimlerine saldırdığını ve bazılarını yaraladığını" aktardı. Nieto, Meksika'nın topraklarına bu şekilde girilmesine izin vermeyeceğini vurguladı.

Honduras Devlet Başkanı Juan Orlando Hernandez de Twitter hesabından yaptığı açıklamada, Guatemalalı mevkidaşı Jimmy Morales ile görüştüğünü ve Honduraslı sivil savunma personelinin göçmenlere yardıma gönderilmesine izin istediğini kaydetti.

ABD Başkanı Donald Trump, Meksikalı yetkililere, göçmenlere engel olduğu için teşekkür etti.

Trump, hafta içinde ülkesinin güney sınırlarındaki yasa dışı göçlere işaret ederek, "Eğer Meksika bu akını durduramazsa ordumuzu devreye sokacağım ve güney sınırlarımızı kapatacağım." açıklamasını yapmıştı.

Yayım tarihi

US bound migrants stampede Mexico-Guatemala border

By Umar Farooq

WASHINGTON (AA) – Thousands of migrants headed for the United States reached the Mexico-Guatemala border Friday, while some stormed the fence despite U.S. President Donald Trump's threats of military action.

A caravan of migrants began their journey to reach the U.S. by foot in Honduras — an estimated 1,553 miles (2,500 kilometers).

On Thursday, the group, which reportedly grew to 4,000 people in Guatemala, was headed to the southern border of Mexico, with some already at the border.

The migrants arrived at the border between Mexico and Guatemala, waving Honduran and Guatemalan flags and demanded to be let into the country to reach the U.S.

"We are not smugglers, we are immigrants," the crowd chanted in front of a yellow fence.

Once some of the migrants climbed the fence, they began to tear it down allowing the huge crowd to flood passed the border gate.

In a joint statement, Mexico’s interior and foreign relations ministries reiterated the migrants would not be allowed to enter the country without proper documentation.

On Thursday, Trump called the caravan an "assault on our country" and demanded Mexico "stop this onslaught."

Trump also threatened to close the U.S.-Mexico border.

Mexican authorities have deployed 500 additional federal police to its border with Guatemala as the migrants make their way north toward the U.S., NBC News reported.

Trump continued to fume at Democrats for what he called the U.S.'s "weak laws" on immigration as the Nov. 6 midterm elections near.

A previous caravan of 1,000 migrants headed to the U.S. in April had been granted temporary visas to cross Mexico, angering Trump, who called on state governors to deploy the National Guard.

Yayım tarihi

Trump warns of military action over migrant 'onslaught'

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) – U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Thursday to send the military to halt an alleged migrant "onslaught" coming from Central America.

Trump said in a series of tweets he would use the military to "CLOSE OUR SOUTHERN BORDER!" while demanding Mexico "stop this onslaught" from reaching the U.S.

The president reiterated threats to cut off aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, whom he said "seem to have almost no control over their population" over the group, which has been termed a "caravan."

"The assault on our country at our Southern Border, including the Criminal elements and DRUGS pouring in, is far more important to me, as President, than Trade or the USMCA. Hopefully Mexico will stop this onslaught at their Northern Border," he said in a third and final tweet using an acronym for a recently brokered free trade deal with Canada and Mexico.

Trump is responding to a reported group of migrants totaling roughly 4,000 people that originated in Honduras and is bound for the U.S.

Honduras and El Salvador have been gripped by a surge in mostly gang-related violence and continue to experience widespread poverty.

Trump alleged the group bound for the U.S. includes "MANY CRIMINALS," but did not offer evidence to support the allegation.

Mexican authorities have deployed roughly 500 additional federal police to Mexico's border with Guatemala as the human "caravan" makes its way north toward the U.S., NBC News reported.

The group has reportedly split in two.

Trump continued to fume at Democrats for what he called the U.S.'s "weak laws" on immigration as the Nov. 6 midterm elections near.

The president earlier this year called on state governors to deploy the National Guard over a similar migrant "caravan."