Move is being seen as attempt to step up efforts to stop large group heading for the US

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Mexico has offered temporary identification papers and jobs to migrants who register for asylum in the country, stepping up efforts to halt the advance of a US-bound caravan that has angered Washington.



Donald Trump has threatened to close the US-Mexico border and cut aid to Central America to try to stop the caravan of several thousand people. US officials have said that up to 1,000 troops may be sent to the southern border to prevent the migrants from crossing.

The Mexican president, Enrique Peña Nieto, said that migrants wishing to obtain temporary identification documents, jobs or education for their children could do so by registering for asylum in southern Mexico.

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“This plan is only for those who comply with Mexican laws, and it’s a first step towards a permanent solution for those who are granted refugee status in Mexico,” Peña Nieto said in a pre-recorded address broadcast on Friday.

To qualify for the scheme he called “Estas en Tu Casa” (“Make Yourself at Home”) migrants had to be in the southern states of Chiapas and Oaxaca, the president said.

Temporary work in the states would be extended so as also to benefit Mexicans, said Peña Nieto, who leaves office on 30 November.

The caravan, which is moving through Chiapas on the border of Guatemala, has enabled Trump to campaign hard on illegal immigration ahead of the midterm congressional elections on 6 November, in which Republicans are battling to keep control of Congress.

Mexican officials have said those migrants who do not qualify for refugee status are liable to be deported.

Mexico’s government has said that more than 1,700 people in the convoy have registered for asylum, while others have returned home. Estimates on the size of the group vary.

Alden Rivera, the Honduran ambassador to Mexico, told Mexican radio on Friday that the caravan could reach Mexico City by next Friday. He put an “official” headcount at 3,500, estimating that at least two-thirds of them were Hondurans.

The caravan set off in Honduras nearly two weeks ago, and has picked up other Central Americans en route.