Guillermo Díaz, Guatemala's top immigration official, says that since Friday 7,000-8,000 Hondurans have crossed in to Guatemala in an "irregular" manner.
"We are very concerned about this situation," Díaz says in a video on his
department's Facebook page. "These people who've formed this caravan or are forming into a caravan...is a very difficult situation to manage." Guatemala has set up checkpoints on main roads leading to and from the Honduran border. However, Díaz says many of the migrants have left the main roads and are now arriving in towns in the middle of the country. Officials are very worried, he adds, because another group of roughly the same size is on its way.
"We hope this situation stops," he says. "And this flow of migrants ends."
Mexican authorities praised the Guatemalan government's forceful response to the migrants. Mexico has beefed up security on its own southern border with Guatemala in anticipation of the caravan. Mexico also sent six buses south to help transport Hondurans back to their home country. The Mexican Secretary for Foreign Affairs
issued a statement calling on Honduran officials to do more to stop the "irregular flow" of citizens through the region.
But migrants in the caravan say they have little choice but to march north.
Some of the Honduran migrants in the caravan say they are hoping to see a change in U.S. asylum policy when President-elect Joe Biden takes office.
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And another one behind it. I don't think the six busses will be enough.