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Buses carrying Central American migrants roll to US border

Published:Sunday | April 29, 2018 | 12:00 AM
AP
Central American children who are travelling with a caravan of migrants, look at the border wall from a bus carrying the group to a gathering of migrants living on both sides of the border, in Tijuana, Mexico, Sunday, April 29. US immigration lawyers are telling Central Americans in a caravan of asylum-seekers that travelled through Mexico to the border with San Diego that they face possible separation from their children and detention for many months. They say they want to prepare them for the worst possible outcome.

 

TIJUANA (AP) :

Packed into five old school buses, hundreds of Central American migrants arrived at the US border Sunday for a rally, to be followed by a planned mass attempt to apply for asylum, in a direct challenge to the Trump administration.

The migrants, many travelling with children, left a downtown Tijuana shelter where they had been staying. Police with flashing lights escorted the buses to a cross-border rally at a Pacific Ocean beach, with supporters gathering on both sides of security fencing.

Asked how he felt as he boarded the bus, Nefi Hernandez of Honduras replied, "Nervous." He said he intended to seek asylum with his wife and infant daughter, who was born on the journey through Mexico.

 

TRACKING MIGRANTS

 

President Donald Trump and members of his Cabinet have been tracking the caravan of migrants, calling it a threat to the US since it started March 25 in the Mexican city of Tapachula, near the Guatemala border.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions called the caravan "a deliberate attempt to undermine our laws and overwhelm our system," pledging to send more immigration judges to the border to resolve cases if needed.

Trump administration officials have railed against what they call "catch-and-release" policies that allow people requesting asylum to be released from custody into the US while their claims make their way through the courts in a process that can last a year.

The arrival at San Diego's San Ysidro border crossing, the nation's busiest, marked the end of a monthlong journey by foot, freight train and bus for the migrants, many of whom said they feared for their safety in their homes.

Hernandez, 24, said a gang in his hometown of San Pedro Sula, Honduras, threatened to kill him and his family if he did not sell drugs.

Jose Cazares, 31, said he faced death threats in the Honduran city of Yoro because a gang member suspected of killing the mother of his children learned one of his sons reported the crime to police.

But the travellers faced an uncertain future as they prepared to turn themselves in and face asylum. US immigration lawyers conducted free legal workshops for the group, warning them they face possible separation from their children and detention for many months.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said that asylum claims will be resolved "efficiently and expeditiously" but that the asylum-seekers should seek it in the first safe country they reach, including Mexico.

She warned that any asylum seekers making false claims to US authorities could be prosecuted, as could anyone who assists or coaches immigrants on making false claims.

Administration officials and their allies claim that asylum fraud is growing and that many who seek it are coached on how to do so.