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Mexico investigates after teens from migrant caravan killed near US border Mexico investigates after teens from migrant caravan killed near US border
(about 1 hour later)
Mexican authorities are investigating the deaths of two Honduran teenagers killed in the border city of Tijuana last weekend after joining a migrant caravan in October headed for the US-Mexico border, officials said on Wednesday. Two teenage members of the migrant caravan have reportedly been murdered in Tijuana, a stark reminder of the dangers facing the tens of thousands of young Central Americans who try to reach the United States each year.
The two youths, believed to be about 16 or 17, showed signs of having been stabbed and strangled. The Honduran victims, aged 16 and 17, reportedly hailed from the violence-stricken city of San Pedro Sula, where the caravan set out from in mid-October before cutting north-west through Mexico towards the US border.
Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told reporters on Wednesday that his government will seek “fair treatment” for migrants, and he said his interior minister will flesh out later in the day how security at the border with the United States will be bolstered.
Fleeing home alone: the migrant children blocked at Mexican borderFleeing home alone: the migrant children blocked at Mexican border
“We have to maintain an immigration policy rooted in the defense and protection of human rights,” Lopez Obrador said at his morning press conference, emphasizing the right to seek asylum. They had been staying at a shelter for underage migrants in the Mexican border city and were killed after leaving that refuge on Saturday night. Their bodies were found dumped in the early hours of last Sunday, according to the Mexican newspaper La Jornada which said the boys had been strangled.
The Honduran ambassador in Mexico, Alden Rivera, said earlier that the pair left the violent city of San Pedro Sula on 13 October. Mexico’s new president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, described the deaths as regrettable. “Investigations are underway,” he told reporters during a press conference at Mexico City’s national palace on Wednesday morning.
It could not be determined immediately if the victims planned to apply for asylum. Asked what Mexico was doing to protect such migrants, López Obrador said his country needed a migration policy rooted in “the defense and protection of human rights”.
More than 2,000 mainly Honduran immigrants who traveled with the caravan remain in a shelter in Tijuana, Lopez Obrador said on Wednesday. Donald Trump has insisted that they will not be allowed into the United States, but a few asylum seekers have already crossed the border. Honduras’ foreign ministry urged Mexican authorities to protect a third citizen who survived the incident but suffered “severe injuries”. That man’s life was still in danger as a result of his knowledge of the crime, the ministry said in a statement.
The killings will likely fuel criticism of a policy proposal that Mexico and the United States discussed earlier this year to have Central American migrants wait in Mexico while their asylum claims are processed. The deaths are the first reported murders of members of the migrant caravan although La Jornada said two other Hondurans had died on route to the US: one of an overdose and another who was run over.
The proposal would likely face legal challenges in the United States. Mexican officials have not confirmed if the plan is currently under discussion. Their deaths highlight not only the treacherous pilgrimage thousands of children and teenagers from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala make to the US each year but also the dangers they continue to face even after reaching the border. Minors often find themselves trapped in cities such as Tijuana as a result of bureaucratic hurdles being erected by US authorities.
Speaking after the US and Mexico unveiled a development initiative for Central America, López Obrador, said investment was the key to slowing “forced migration”.
“People don’t leave their communities, their villages, their families, because they want to – they do it out of necessity,” López Obrador told reporters.
“Migration has always existed – ever since the most remote times of world history. But this migration should be optional, not obligatory, not forced.”
MexicoMexico
HondurasHonduras
AmericasAmericas
US immigrationUS immigration
Donald TrumpDonald Trump
MigrationMigration
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