A second caravan of migrants seeking asylum in the United States is forming at the Guatemala-Mexico border.
Migrants in the town of Tecun Uman, Guatemala, said Thursday they were waiting for between 1,500 and 4,000 people to mass for another caravan like the first that came through the town and is now in Mexico about 1,000 miles from the nearest US border crossing at McAllen, Texas.
The bridge connecting Tecun Uman to Ciudad Hidalgo in Mexico is closed – and migrants said they planned to cross the Suchiate River dividing the countries via rafts or by wading through the waist-deep water, USA Today reported.
Mexico shut that bridge under pressure from President Trump.
“We are in a horrible crisis in our country,” said Gabriela Patricia Aguilar Lainez, 37, one of those gathering in the town plaza with her 3-year-old daughter, according to USA Today. “We are in a political crisis, an economic crisis, and a crime crisis.”
According to the news outlet, there was no evidence that the new group of migrants from Honduras was funded by a particular organization.
The migrants said they simply banded together to flee violence that has torn apart their home countries and because there is strength in numbers.
“Our country is failed,” said Honduras native Kevin Escobar, 26, who had traveled six days walking and hitching rides to get to the Guatemala-Mexico border.
“I have to find a way to help my family and that means going to another country.”
UNICEF reported Friday that some of the estimated 2,300 children traveling with the first caravan are ill or suffering from dehydration.
The migrants were planning what would be their most ambitious single-day trek since they crossed into Mexico, setting their sights for Friday on reaching Arriaga, a march of about 62 miles.
Trump sent a message to the marchers in a tweet Thursday.
“To those in the Caravan, turnaround, we are not letting people into the United States illegally,” the commander-in-chief tweeted. “Go back to your Country and if you want, apply for citizenship like millions of others are doing!”
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