The Central American migration force is gaining additional followers as they continue their march toward the southern U.S. border. In an effort to stop a political and diplomatic crisis between the U.S. and Mexico, outgoing Mexican President Pena Nieto offered assistance and asylum for the migrants to remain in Mexico. The growing swarm declined the offer… the looming crisis grows. [PBS Video Report Here]
ARRIAGA, Mexico (AP) — Several thousand Central American migrants turned down a Mexican offer of benefits if they applied for refugee status and stayed in the country’s two southernmost states, vowing to set out before dawn Saturday to continue their long trek toward the U.S. border.
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto announced what he called the “You are at home” plan, offering shelter, medical attention, schooling and jobs to Central Americans in Chiapas and Oaxaca states if they applied, calling it a first step toward permanent refugee status. Authorities said more than 1,700 had already applied for refugee status.
But after one of the caravan’s longest days of walking and hanging from passing trucks, the bulk of the migrants were boisterous Friday evening in their refusal to accept anything less than safe passage to the U.S. border.
“Thank you!” they yelled as they voted to reject the offer in a show of hands in the town of Arriaga. They then added: “No, we’re heading north!”
Sitting at the edge of the edge of the town square, 58-year-old Oscar Sosa of San Pedro Sula, Honduras concurred.
“Our goal is not to remain in Mexico,” Sosa said. “Our goal is to make it to the (U.S). We want passage, that’s all.” (read more)
Meanwhile The Daily Mail is reporting information from a former MS13 gang member that supports the position of President Trump:
(Via Daily Mail) […] An 18-year-old who claims to be a former member of the feared Latin mafia MS-13 has backed President Trump’s controversial claim that the migrant caravan contains gangsters and criminals.
Trump has faced a barrage of criticism for insisting that the brutal Central American street gang’s operatives are embedded in the sprawling human convoy.
However the 18-year-old, an orphan who says he was lured into the gang at 16, told DailyMail.com he knows of at least ten of his former MS-13 cohorts who are hiding out in the mass of disheveled migrants marching north through Mexico.
‘I don’t agree with anything Donald Trump stands for but on this occasion the President is right,’ he warned. ‘People who deny there are criminals in the caravan are being naive. MS-13 are everywhere – they contaminate everything.’ (read more)
