A Honduran migrant chants on Friday morning as the group makes their way towards the Mexican border crossing. They yelled: ‘One way or another, we will pass’ in Spanish and said: ‘We are not smugglers, we are migrants’
A woman carries a baby across the border as others around her tote strollers and backpacks, their chosen belongings to make the trip
A frightened boy is lifted overhead in the crowd to climb the border fence in Guatemala on Friday morning as the group continues its march into Mexico and towards the US
Migrants saunter past the migration checkpoint that was left abandoned by workers after they flooded the gates and overpowered police
A woman is pictured after being injured during the chaotic crossing on Friday morning. She was pictured in Chiapas, the Mexican state the migrants crossed into
A jubilant Honduran man raises his arms in celebration on Friday after crossing the bridge from Guatemala into Mexico
Others used makeshift rafts made out of discarded car tires to cross the Suchiate River
On Friday the group chanted: ‘We are not smugglers, we are migrants,’ as they reorganized themselves on Friday afternoon.
The stern police presence comes after President Trump appealed directly to Mexico to help block the flood of people.
Hundreds of Mexican police officers and troops have stationed themselves along the other side of the tall fence which separates it from Guatemala. Guatemalan troops are also said to be putting up resistance.
Mexico has implemented what the ambassador to Guatemala calls a ‘metered entry’ system to try to control the vast numbers of people who are traveling there from other Central American countries.
Next stop USA: The group is now in Mexico, the last country they need to get through before they arrive at their intended destination
The immigrants breaking through the gate on the Mexican side of the bridge after crossing over from Guatemala
It did not take long for the group to crash open that gate, as they had with the other, and continue on their path
A Mexican police officer strokes his eye as he recovers from the scuffle with the migrants in a police van
A young man holds an umbrella over a baby on her father’s shoulders to keep her out of the sun as they continue their march over the bridge and toward Mexico
Late on Thursday night, a small number of the Honduran group who broke off from the main crowd were able to successfully cross over into Mexico.
NBC reports that US officials are now tracking that small group as they make progress toward the US.
The migrants are fleeing Honduras where they say they have no prospects. Many are eager to escape the gang violence they say their children are doomed to encounter as they grow up.
Trump has commentated on their movements throughout by blaming their optimism on Democrats and calling their march towards America an ‘assault’ on the country.
On Thursday, as the group made progress through Guatemala, he tweeted: ‘I am watching the Democrat Party led (because they want Open Borders and existing weak laws) assault on our country by Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, whose leaders are doing little to stop this large flow of people, INCLUDING MANY CRIMINALS, from entering Mexico to the U.S.
Earlier: Police stand in riot gear at Mexico’s border with Guatemala ready to take on the Honduran migrants who retreated on Friday to reevaluate their plan
There are thousands of people in the largest group. Some are pictured waiting near the border in Tecun Uman on Friday
A migrant prays as he waits for the group to decide what to do on Friday in Tecun Uman, Guatemala
‘In addition to stopping all payments to these countries, which seem to have almost no control over their population, I must, in the strongest of terms, ask Mexico to stop this onslaught – and if unable to do so I will call up the U.S. Military and CLOSE OUR SOUTHERN BORDER!’
‘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.
‘All Democrats fault for weak laws!’
On the Mexican side, the foreign ministry said its government was in constant communication with members of the caravan explaining the migrants’ options.
It said officials were already assisting some migrants who had crossed and requested refugee status.
On Thursday, Mexican officials said they had agreed on a plan with the US to establish shelters along the Mexican southern border for anyone in the caravan who makes an asylum claim in Mexico.
‘Just today, the Mexican government, and this is a very important step, requested the intervention of the U.N., the Office of the High Commissioner on Refugees, to help Mexico review any asylum claims from the members of the caravan,’ Mexican Ambassador to the U.S. Geronimo Gutierrez told Fox News.
‘That will allow us to have a process by which in our border we will make sure that of serving human rights, respecting international law, if there are legitimate claims to refugee, those can be processed in a very clear way,’ he added.
Pompeo later released a statement to say the State Department supported the plan and would be ‘ready to assist.
‘We welcome the government of Mexico’s statement that they will seek cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to address immigration issues in the region, including the influx of people arriving in Mexico.
‘The United States stands ready to assist the Government of Mexico and UNHCR in this effort,’ he said.
But the migrants are determined to plow through Mexico on foot and in trucks, eventually reaching the US border where they want to make their final crossing.
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