Central American ‘caravan’ women, children enter US, defying Trump

SAN YSIDRO PORT OF ENTRY: Hopes rose on Tuesday among a caravan of migrants who traveled from Central America to seek asylum in the United States after US border authorities allowed the first small group of women and children entry from Mexico overnight.

Gathering people along the way, the caravan set off a month ago on a 2,000-mile (3,220-km) trek across Mexico to the US border, drawing attention from American news media after President Donald Trump took to Twitter to demand such groups not be granted entry and urging stronger immigration laws. Celebrations erupted on Monday night among dozens of migrants camped near the US border crossing in Tijuana, Mexico, after US officials admitted eight women and children, fueling the determination of others to remain until they were admitted.

However, the US Department of Justice late on Monday announced what it described as the first prosecutions against members of the caravan, filing criminal charges against 11 migrants accused of entering the country illegally about four miles (6 km) west of the San Ysidro, California, border crossing. “The United States will not stand by as our immigration laws are ignored and our nation´s safety is jeopardized,” US Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement announcing the charges.

The statement did not provide a figure on any other caravan members who might have also been detained. On the asylum applicants, the Trump administration´s hands are tied by international rules obliging the United States to accept some applications. Most in the caravan said they were fleeing death threats, extortion and violence from powerful street gangs. Dozens of members of the caravan slept in the open for a second cold desert night in the surroundings of the busy San Ysidro port of entry.