
Hundreds of Central American migrants forced their way across the Guatemalan border into Mexico on Monday after the Mexican government denied them free transit through the country to the United States' southern border.

A caravan of 2,000 migrants, mostly Hondurans, gathered before dawn Monday along the Rodolfo Robles International Bridge spanning the Suchiate River between Guatemala and Mexico.

Hundred were seen crossing the river into southern Mexico. Amid shouts and even some fireworks they began wading across the shallow river. The migrants moved off the border bridge and toward the river after Mexican officials told them they would not be granted passage through the country.

According to AFP, Mexican security forces fired tear gas as the migrants attempted to flee to Mexico through the river's shallow waters.

It is the first major caravan since the United States and Mexico agreed to work together to combat migrant crossings through the Mexico-Guatemala border.

Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador last summer pledged to help the United States curtail mass movements of migrants.

U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to punish Mexico and Central American countries economically if they fail to curb migrant flows, resulting in a series of agreements aimed at taking pressure off the United States.

Hundreds of Central American migrants defied orders from Mexican officials and crossed into southern Mexico on Monday

Hundreds migrants from Central America formed part of the caravan that streamed into Mexico on Monday after crossing the

A group of Central American migrants crossed into southern Mexico on Monday morning

Central American migrants, most from Honduras, were spotted Monday morning walking across the Suchiate River that separates Guatemala and Mexico

Thousands of Central American migrants, mostly Hondurans, threatened to cross the Guatemala-Mexico border by force

Small groups of migrants managed to make their way into Mexico over the weekend, but security officials blocked other Central Americans who attempted to force their way through the border, leading to violent shoving at the crossing.

According to Guatemala, at least 4,000 people have entered from Honduras since Wednesday, making for one of the biggest surges since three Central American governments signed agreements with the Trump administration obliging them to assume more of the responsibility for dealing with migrants.

Guatemalan officials, with the assistance of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, placed about 400 migrants on buses and returned them to Honduras last week.

Mexican security forces were deployed Monday at the Rodolfo Robles International Bridge to block 2,000 Central American migrants from entering southern Mexico

Security forces offer aid to a man moments after soldiers allegedly fired tear gas at a caravan of Central American migrants

A boy paces through a massive group of migrant caravan members on Monday morning. Hundreds remained camped out at a bridge that connects Tecum Uman, Guatemala, with Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico

By Monday morning, more than 2,000 migrants blocked the Rodolfo Robles International Bridge that spans the Suchiate River between Guatemala and Mexico and demanded they be allowed to cross into Mexico without restrictions

More than 2,000 Central Americans are part of a caravan that filed across a bridge connecting Guatemala and Honduras and threatened an immigration signed by the Trump administration with Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatelama

However, the caravan of at least 2,000 migrants remained in the Guatemalan border town of Tecun Uman and set off for Mexico en masse early on Monday, believing that they stood a better chance of making progress in a large group.

As of Sunday, Mexican authorities had received 1,087 migrants in the states of Chiapas and Tabasco and set out various options to them in accordance with their migration status.

'However, in the majority of cases, once the particular migration situation has been reviewed, assisted returns will be carried out to their countries of origin, assuming that their situation warrants it,' the ministry said.

By dawn Monday, thousands of migrants made their way to the Rodolfo Robles International Bridge that connects Guatemala with Mexico. They have threatened to forcefully make their way into Mexico unless its presidents grants them free passage to the United States border where they seek to apply for asylum

An aerial shot of the Rodolfo Robles International Bridge that spans the Sichuate River between Guatemala and Mexico shows the large group of migrants who hope to reach the Mexico-United States border

Thousands of people from Central America are trying to cross the bridge that allows the passage to Mexico, in Tecun Uman, Guatemala

Mexico has so far controlled the border at Tecun Uman more successfully than in late 2018, when a large caravan of migrants sought to break through there. Many later crossed into Mexico via the Suchiate River.

It led to President López Obrador agreeing to deploy the national guard to the Guatemala-Mexico border, after Trump threatened to levy taxes on imported goods if the immigrants weren't stopped.

The leftist leader's government on Friday offered migrants 4,000 jobs to work in the south, but those who do not accept it or seek asylum will not be issued safe conduct passes to the United States, the interior ministry said.

A 23-year-old music composer, who abandoned his native Honduras in search better opportunities in America, pleaded with López Obrador and asked him to reconsider his government's approach to the migrant crisis.

'The authorities do not care about supporting young people's talent, buying books and notebooks for schools or for medicine for hospitals. They worry about buying weapons and tear gas to repress the people," Brayan Pineda said, according to Mexican newspaper El Universal.

'I ask the President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to allow us the free passage. We do not want to stay in Mexico. Our goal is to reach the United States,' he added.

The so-called "Asylum Cooperation Agreements," or ACAs, are just the latest in a series of measures by the Trump administration aimed at reducing the number of asylum applicants arriving at the country's southwest border.

The new caravan is the first since last fall, when Washington signed bilateral agreements with Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to reduce the number of migrants crossing the southern border.

More than 55,000 asylum seekers have requested asylum at the U.S. border and been returned to Mexico to wait out cases that will take months, if not years to resolve under the "Remain in Mexico" program, also known as the Migrant Protection Protocols.

Beginning with Guatemala in July of 2019, the U.S. government signed agreements with Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador that would allow the U.S. to send asylum seekers from other countries to Central America.

Under the deals, asylum seekers won't be given the opportunity to request asylum in the U.S., but rather will be flown to these Central American countries where they will have the opportunity to request asylum.

Migrants holds their Honduran flag on Monday morning at the Rodolfo Robles International Bridge