Mexico Promises to Deport 500 Caravan Migrants Who Rushed the U.S. Border

TOPSHOT - A group of Central American migrants -mostly Hondurans- climb the border fence b
PEDRO PARDO/AFP/Getty Images
Neil Munro

The Mexican government will deport up to 500 caravan migrants back to Central America after they tried to cross the U.S. border on Sunday, according to Reuters news service.

The news service reported the government’s response to the rush by caravan migrants for the fence at the San Ysidro port of entry:

MEXICO CITY, Nov 25 (Reuters) – Mexico will deport about 500 migrants who on Sunday tried to “violently” and “illegally” cross the U.S. border, according to the Mexican Interior Ministry in a statement.

The ministry’s website also said it “will reinforce the border points where people broke into their attempt to illegally enter the United States.”

The two statements suggest the Mexican government is trying to keep the Central American caravan migrants from rushing over the border to claim asylum offered by a U.S. judge in San Francisco. The judge agreed with an ACLU request to block deportations of migrants who step across the U.S. border — even before reaching the border fence — and then claim asylum.

Mexican officials are already helping U.S. border officials limit the number of migrants who are allowed to apply for asylum each day at the San Ysidro port of entry.

However, Mexican officials are caught in a political bind. Mexicans broadly support the migrants’ march towards the United States, but top officials fear the instability that would be caused by a stream of migrant caravans heading north to California.

Mexican officials also worry about possible economic damages that could be imposed if President Donald Trump follows through on his threat to shut down the border if migration is not controlled.

The tension was highlighted Sunday when Mexican police tried to stop the migrants’ rush to Mexico while officials declared they had not yet signed a “Remain in Mexico” deal which would allow the U.S. government to deport migrants to Mexico pending the resolution of their U.S. courtroom pleas for asylum. The policy could dramatically shrink the catch and release process which allows the migrants to get U.S. jobs and fund more migrants.

The dilemma for Mexico’s government is new. Under President George. W. Bush and Barack Obama, U.S. officials either did little to stop the flow of migration or quietly aided the flow of cheap-labor migrants into American jobs. In contrast, Trump is defending Americans by pressuring Mexico to block the flow of cheap-labor migrants.

The Mexican ministry also said it has persuaded roughly 2,000 migrants to apply for asylum in Mexico and that another 7,417 migrants are in the cities of Tijuana and Mexicali, in the Mexican state of Baja California.

But U.S. officials also face problems. For example, the ACLU and the San Francisco judge may try to block the U.S. government from standing aside while the Mexican government deports the migrants who crossed into U.S. territory on Sunday.

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