Thousands of Central American migrants traveling with a caravan that has been stationed in Mexico City for days have decided to push on toward the U.S., opting to take the longer, but likely safer, route to Tijuana, which borders San Diego.
While Mexico has offered refuge, asylum and work visas to those who choose to stay in the country, The Associated Press has reported that migrants made the decision late Thursday to leave the Mexico City sports stadium where they have been taking shelter and continue their journey to the U.S. on Friday.
If caravan members do decide to make their way to Tijuana, they will have a roughly 1,775 mile journey ahead of them.
Caravan coordinator Milton Benitez told the news agency that the local United Nations office had agreed to arrange buses to take women and children to the border, but Benitez said organizers wanted buses to be made available for everyone traveling with the caravan, due to fears that it would be too difficult and dangerous to continue walking and hitchhiking all the way to the border.
Organizers said that they hoped the buses would arrive on Friday, but told AP that they planned to leave Mexico city with or without transport, with the journey expected to resume at around 5 a.m. local time.
The decision by caravan members to push forward to the border comes as President Donald Trump is set to issue a presidential proclamation for a new rule to restrict the ability of those caught crossing into the U.S. illegally to seek asylum.
The Trump administration announced the new federal rule issued by the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department on Thursday.
Human Rights First's Eleanor Acer condemned the rule on Thursday as the "latest shameful tactic in a years-long campaign to vilify and punish those who seek protection in this country."
"The refugees seeking protection at our southern border are not a security threat; they are brave men, women and children who have fled horrific violence and persecution in the hopes of living in this country in freedom and dignity," Acer said in a statement shared online.
"This is the story of America, and we will not allow President Trump and the anti-immigrant voices in the White House to make a mockery of our nation's ideals."
Troops deployed to the southern border by the Trump administration in anticipation of the arrival of the several caravans making their way to the U.S. have already started to arrive at the San Diego-Tijuana border, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune.
"We are out here to support Customs and Border Protection to enable them to defend the southern border," Second Lieutenant Frederick D. Walker, a Marine spokesperson for the task force assigned to San Diego told the news outlet.
The Marine spokesperson said troops from Camp Pendleton and Texas would initially be working to strengthen border barriers, with soldiers being tasked with putting up concertina wire to make the barrier between the two countries "less scalable."
Officials with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Department of Defense are reportedly expected to hold a joint news conference on the San Diego portion of the mission on Friday.
A caravan that arrived at the U.S. border in April had also chosen to take the longer route to the San Diego-Tijuana border, rather than try to claim asylum as the nearest point of entry in the area of McAllen, Texas.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Chantal Da Silva is Chief Correspondent at Newsweek, with a focus on immigration and human rights. She is a Canadian-British journalist whose work ... Read more
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