Thousands of Honduras migrants have entered Guatemala and plan to continue north to the United States, which could put an early test on the immigration policies of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr., who has promised to oust the Trump administration’s alleviate restrictions on asylum.
After several hundred people were able to pass the border police on Friday, thousands of others followed Guatemala on Saturday. Officials said between 7,000 and 9,000 people entered the country, bypassing many coronavirus checks.
The Government of Guatemala said that it ‘regrets this violation of national sovereignty and calls on Central American governments to prevent endangering their residents, as well as the communities through which these people go, in the face of the pandemic.’
The migrants are expected to face ongoing obstacles on their route. Guatemalan authorities set up checkpoints, blocked parts of the caravan, not far from where it entered Guatemala, and were able to bring some of the migrants back home by bus, reports The Associated Press.
The Mexican authorities have posted additional troops and immigration officials along the southern border of the country in anticipation of the caravan.
“In our national territory, we must guarantee orderly, safe and regular migration, with respect for human rights and humanitarian policies,” Francisco Garduño Yáñez, head of Mexico’s National Immigration Institute, said in a statement on Friday.
Members of the group told reporters they were being driven to escape crime, poverty and homelessness exacerbated by the pandemic and two hurricanes last year.
“We have nothing to feed our children, and thousands of us have left on the streets,” Maria Jesus Paz, a mother of four, told Reuters news agency. She said her family lost their home in the storms and forced them to flee.
“That’s why we’re making this decision, even though we know the trip could cost us our lives,” she added.
The back-to-back hurricanes that hit Central America in November have destroyed livelihoods in a region that has already had an economic crisis and where thousands of families ‘incomes have already been severely reduced due to the pandemic,’ the International Committee of the Red Cross Said on saturday.
The Trump administration has made a series of deals with Mexico and Central American countries to prevent migrants from reaching the United States. Mark Morgan, acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, said on Saturday that Guatemala would continue to enforce the agreement.
“Guatemala continues to support the regional alliance committed to safe, orderly and legal migration and protects public health during the global pandemic,” he said. Morgan said on Twitter. The Guatemalan immigration agency “is already sending caravan members back to Honduras after entering Guatemala illegally.”
During the presidential campaign, Mr. Biden said he would move quickly to undo the stricter asylum restrictions imposed by the Trump administration, which forced people who did not seek protection on their way to the United States and forced asylum seekers to wait in Mexico . .
On his first day in office, Mr. Pray to ask Congress for a broad overhaul of immigration laws. The proposal, announced Wednesday, paves the way for citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants now living in the United States, aid to damaged Central American economies, and plans to help people fleeing violence.
Last month, Mr. Biden, in an effort to prevent a rush to the border, warns that changes to immigration policy cannot be made immediately after taking office and that his administration “probably needs the next six months” to develop a more “human policy” for processing migrants.