350 migrants 'break violently' into Mexico as new caravan arrives

A group of around 350 Central American migrants “broke violently” into Mexico on Friday. The country’s immigration authorities said, as a new caravan of around 2,500 people arrived from Guatemala. “Today at 3:30 am (0830 GMT) a group of approximately 350 people broke violently across the Mexican border from Guatemala,” the National Migration Institute said in a statement.

Mexico’s National Migration Institute said some members of the caravan had attacked local police in the southern town of Metapa de Dominguez—news sure to draw the attention of President Donald Trump as he continues his crackdown on undocumented migrants heading toward the US.

 “With an aggressive attitude, (the migrants) broke the padlock on the border gate and entered the country.” The caravan set out Wednesday from the city of San Pedro Sula in Honduras and has picked up Guatemalans and some Nicaraguans along the way.

The migrants are mostly fleeing poverty and brutal violence in their home countries.

“We can’t live (in Honduras) anymore. We’re heading for the border, for the United States,” said Jorge, a young Honduran migrant who declined to give his last name.

Earlier, said that the United States is full and the country has no room left to take the illegal immigrants. At a meeting with border patrol agents and other officials in Calexico, he said “it’s overwhelming our immigration system and we can’t let that happen.”  Then in a message to those heading for the United States, he said: “The system is full and we can’t take you anymore.... Our country is full.” “So turn around, that’s the way it is,” he said.

Around 200 protesters, accompanied by a giant inflatable balloon depicting Trump as a baby, were waiting for the president in Mexicali, the town on the Mexican side of the frontier.

Waving US and Mexican flags, the protesters carried signs with messages such as “Stop separating families” and “If you build the wall, my generation will tear it down.”

On the US side, dozens of people lined the road that Trump’s motorcade took from the airport, demonstrating support for his policies. “Build the wall,” said one placard.

Trump is determined to pursue a hard line.