'We're going to drop in on Donald Trump': Job-seeking mother-of three who fears for her family's safety says president 'has to take us in' as she joins northbound migrant group entering Guatemala that has DOUBLED in size
- Up to 3,000 migrants crossed from Honduras into Guatemala on Monday
Up to 3,000 migrants crossed from Honduras into Guatemala on Monday after warnings from Washington DC that migrants should not try to enter the United States illegally.
The crowd trekking northward, after a standoff with police in riot gear, had more than doubled in size from Saturday, when some 1,300 people set off from northern Honduras in what has been dubbed 'March of the Migrant,' an organizer said.
Andrea Fernandez, 24, who left Honduras with a newborn baby, a 5-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son because she said she could not find work and feared for their safety, is one of the migrants plan to seek refugee status in
Mexico or pass through to the United States.
'We're going to drop in on Donald Trump. He has to take us in,' she told Reuters.
'We are seriously concerned about the caravan of migrants traveling north from Honduras, with false promises of entering the United States by those who seek to exploit their compatriots,' the U.S. Embassy in Honduras said in a statement on Sunday evening.
Guatemala said in a statement on Sunday that it did not promote or endorse 'irregular migration.'
Rows of Guatemalan police in black uniforms, some wearing helmets and shields, initially blocked migrants from reaching a customs booth, Reuters images showed. It was not clear how long the standoff lasted, but the group was ultimately able to cross, said march organizer Bartolo Fuentes, a former Honduran lawmaker.
A police official on site said all Central Americans could pass freely through the region as long as they complied with migration control.
Mexico's migration institute said in a statement on Monday that march participants would need to follow immigration rules to enter the country, without specifying the criteria.
'The law does not provide for any permission to enter the country without meeting the requirements, and then go on to a third country,' the government agency said.
Rows of Guatemalan police in black uniforms, some wearing helmets and shields, initially blocked migrants from reaching a customs booth
It was not clear how long the standoff lasted, but the group was ultimately able to cross, said march organizer Bartolo Fuentes, a former Honduran lawmaker
Northbound migrant group entering Guatemala has DOUBLED in size | Daily Mail Online
