Nearly 200 Central American migrants attempting to seek asylum in the United States have been told they will have to wait until a border facility near San Diego has enough space to accommodate them.

After traveling through Mexico with great fanfare for a month under the Trump administration's watchful eye, the migrant 'caravan' was stopped in its tracks when border inspectors said that a crossing facility was full.

Donald Trump, the US president, said on Monday his government had been "watching" the caravan's progress.

"Our immigration laws in this country are a total disaster," Mr Trump said during a press conference with Muhammadu Buhari, the Nigerian president. "They're laughed at all over the world for their total stupidity".

Mr Trump added: "We are a nation of laws. Without borders we don't have a country... We need a wall."

In an anticlimactic twist, about 50 asylum seekers were allowed past a gate controlled by Mexican officials to walk across a long bridge but were stopped at the entrance to the US inspection facility at the other end. They were allowed to wait outside the building, technically on Mexican soil, without word of when US officials would let them claim asylum.

Another 50 or so camped on blankets and backpacks in Tijuana outside the Mexican side of the crossing, prohibited from even getting close to the US inspection building.