A “migrant caravan” from Central America began approaching the southern U.S. border on Monday, prompting Trump administration officials to warn that any violators of immigration law will face prosecution.
The caravan totaled about 1,500 people when it embarked from the Mexico-Guatemala border about a month ago, according to reports. About 600 remaining travelers from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras arrived in the northern Mexico city of Hermosillo on Monday. From there, they planned to board a train to travel the remaining 432 miles to the United States where some planned to request asylum.
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen released a statement on Monday warning prosecution for anyone who enters the country illegally. Those seeking asylum, she added, would be detained while their claims are “adjudicated efficiently and expeditiously.” The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) have sent additional U.S. Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS) asylum officers, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) attorneys, immigration judges and DoJ prosecutors to the southern border to handle the influx, Nielsen added.
“DHS encourages persons with asylum or other similar claims to seek protections in the first safe country they enter, including Mexico,” Nielsen said. “While we are committed to doing everything we can on the border to secure our nation, we need Congress to do their job as well. I join the president in asking congressional leadership to work with the administration to pass legislation to close the legal loopholes that prevent us from securing our borders and protecting Americans. I stand ready to work with any member who in good faith seeks to support DHS’s mission and secure our country.”
Attorney General Jeff Sessions called the caravan a “deliberate attempt to undermine our laws and overwhelm our system.” He added that there’s “no right to demand entry without justification” and warned that “smugglers and traffickers and those who lie or commit fraud will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
“Promoting and enforcing the rule of law is essential to protecting a nation, its borders and its citizens,” Sessions said. “But, as President Trump has warned, the need to fix these loopholes and weaknesses in our immigration system is critical and overdue. Accordingly, I have directed our U.S. attorneys at the border to take whatever immediate action to ensure that we have sufficient prosecutors available. I have also directed that we commit any additional necessary immigration judges to adjudicate any cases that may arise from this ‘caravan.’”