Hundreds of people from migrant caravan breach US-Mexican border - reports

TIJUANA, MEXICO, 05 Dec. - (ANA) - About 800 migrants from Central American states have been detained while attempting to illegally cross the US-Mexican border, head of the Mexican National Migration Institute Tonatiuh Guillen Lopez said.

Dozens of migrants from Latin America, frustrated by weeks of remaining in poorly-equipped camps, have gone over the 10-foot border fence in Tijuana, according to Reuters.

"A significant number of people tried to illegally cross the border and many of them were detained in the United States. The number of [detained] people reached some 800", Guillen Lopez said.

He pointed out that currently, some 2,500 migrants remain in a migration camp near the Mexican-US border, not far from the city of Tijuana. According to Guillen Lopez, some of the migrants have decided to return home.

This breach follows a similar incident when a group of around 500 migrants attempted to storm the US border near Tijuana on 2 December and reportedly threw projectiles at the US border patrol, prompting American authorities to use tear gas and rubber bullets against the asylum seekers.

The migrants are fleeing violence and poverty in their home countries with the hopes of being able to seek asylum in the United States. US authorities have said that around 600 people in the migrant caravan have criminal records.

There are some 5,600 migrants at the Albergue Benito Juarez shelter in Tijuana, according to the local municipal police.  - (ANA) -

AB/ANA/05 December 2018 - - -