A caravan of mostly Honduran migrants clashed with Guatemalan soldiers as the group of more than 7,000 treks to the United States-Mexico border.
The caravan first broke through the Guatemalan border on Friday evening, with video showing troops trying to keep the group back with sticks and tear gas.
Guatemala Police and National Civil Police use batons and tear gas on US-bound migrant caravan. pic.twitter.com/4HwzqVTui2
— The Hill (@thehill) January 17, 2021
Este es el panorama en el Kilómetro 177, Vado Hondo, Chiquimula. El segundo grupo de migrantes hondureños se abre paso en territorio guatemalteco pic.twitter.com/J9Dr8y0Yi1
— Lucero Sapalú (@Lsapalu_elP) January 16, 2021
“You cannot and will not get through,” Guatemala’s immigration chief, Guillermo Díaz, told the migrants according to local media. “Please understand that carrying on isn’t possible.”
The migrants responded that they could not go back to their home country because they were “dying of hunger” there.
By Sunday, the group was still making its way across Guatemala so they can get to Mexico and eventually the U.S. About 1,000 members of the group, however, were deported by Guatemalan officials.
The news comes as President-elect Joe Biden is reportedly ready to send legislation offering a path to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants as a first order of business on Wednesday.
“This really does represent a historic shift from Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda that recognizes that all of the undocumented immigrants that are currently in the United States should be placed on a path to citizenship,” Marielena Hincapie, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, said about the plan, which she was briefed on.
