WORLD / AMERICAS
Honduras braces for 1,900 migrants deported from Mexico
Published: Jan 22, 2020 09:09 AM

Image provided by the daily La Jornada shows Mexican National Guards stationing along the bank of the Suchiate River to prevent Central American migrants from breaking through on Jan. 20, 2020. (Victor Camacho/La Jornada/Handout via Xinhua)


Honduras is preparing for the arrival this week of at least 1,900 nationals deported from Mexico for trying to enter illegally on their way to the United States, the Honduran ambassador in Mexico City said.

According to Alden Rivera, Mexican authorities said two groups of Hondurans attempted to sneak into southern Mexico from neighboring Guatemala at two different border points: one in south Chiapas state and another in southeast Tabasco state.

"Immigration authorities detained a significant number" of Hondurans, said Rivera.

Honduras' deputy foreign affairs minister for consular and immigration affairs, Nelly Jerez, said the first flight carrying 110 deported nationals was expected to arrive later in the day from Tabasco.

Starting Wednesday and through Friday, some 500 deported nationals are expected to arrive daily by bus, she said.

The latest migrant caravan heading toward the United States set out from the north Honduran town of San Pedro Sula before daybreak on Jan. 15.

At the end of 2018 and in 2019, waves of migrant caravans succeeded in crossing into Mexico and amassing at the US border, raising tensions between Mexico and the United States.

The two countries later agreed to bolster border security to promote the orderly entry of migrants.