Mexico has dispatched two Boeing 727s full of federal police officers to its southern border, as the country prepares for the arrival of a migrant caravan of thousands from Central America.
Five hundred federal police officers in riot gear arrived on Wednesday in Tapachula, Chiapas on the border with Guatemala, where some 4,000 migrants are now marching northward.
The presence of federal forces on the southern border of the country is not to stop migrants from crossing the border, but to help immigration officials maintain order, Mexican Federal Police Commissioner Manelich Castilla Craviotto told Noticeros Televisia.
'The INM reiterates its unrestricted commitment to respect the human rights of migrants,' said Mexico's National Institute of Migration, a government agency that controls and supervises immigration.
U.S. President Donald Trump warned Thursday that he will use military force to seal the U.S-Mexico border unless Mexico intervenes.
'I must, in the strongest of terms, ask Mexico to stop this onslaught – and if unable to do so I will call up the U.S. Military and CLOSE OUR SOUTHERN BORDER!' Trump wrote on Twitter.
Meanwhile, the massive caravan continued its trek north in a bold attempt to reach the United States, defying threats from President Donald Trump to stop aid to countries that let them pass.
The group reached Guatamala City on Wednesday, about 180 miles from the Mexican border, where Mexican officials greeted leaders of the march.
Mexico's Foreign Ministry said that at the meeting, 'reliable and updated information was provided on the procedures required by the Government of Mexico to allow regular entry of migrants to Mexico and the process to be followed for those who wish to request recognition of refugee status.'
The officials also advised the migrants that there was no transit visa that would allow them to cross to the northern border with the US, according to the Foreign Ministry.
archive.fo
dailymail.co.uk
