Hundreds of Central American migrants have become stranded in a sort of no man’s land on the river border between Guatemala and Mexico, after running up against lines of Mexican National Guard troops deployed to keep them from moving en masse into the country and north towards the US.

The path forward was blocked by troops with riot shields, and about 100 National Guard agents with anti-riot gear formed a barrier into the night. But for many, a return home to impoverished and gang-plagued Honduras, where most of the migrants are from, was unthinkable.

“We are in no man’s land,” said Alan Mejía, whose two-year-old son was cradled in his arms as his wife, Ingrid Vanesa Portillo, and their other son, 12, gazed at the riverbanks.

Mejía joined in five previous migrant “caravans” but never made it further than the Mexican border city of Tijuana. “They are planning how to clear us out, and here we are without water or food,” said Portillo. “There is no more hope for going forward.”

Unlike the case with many of the previous caravans, there was no sign of humanitarian aid arriving for those stuck at the river.

Play Video Scuffles erupt between migrants and troops at Guatemala-Mexico border – video report

Large numbers waded across the Suchiate into southern Mexico on Monday hoping to test Donald Trump’s strategy to keep Central American migrants away from the US border. The push also challenged Mexico’s tougher immigration policing that began last year in response to threats of economic tariffs from the US president, a change that in effect snuffed out the last caravan in April.

Some scuffled with troops on the riverbank while others slipped through the lines and trudged off on a rural highway, with most taken into custody later in the day. Others were taken into custody on the spot or chased into the brush. Some people hurled rocks at the police, who huddled behind their plastic shields and threw some of the rocks back.

Most, however, stayed at the river’s edge or stood in its waters trying to decide their next move after being blocked earlier in the day from crossing the bridge linking Tecun Uman in Guatemala with Ciudad Hidalgo in Mexico.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Rocks were thrown during the standoff with Mexican National Guards. Photograph: Xinhua/Barcroft Media

“We never thought they would receive us like that,” said Melisa Ávila, who travelled from the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa with her 12-year-old son and was resigned to the prospect of spending the night outdoors. “They treated us like dogs.”

In an approach that developed after the first migrant caravan in late 2018, Mexican officials seem to be succeeding in their effort to blunt large-scale incursions by breaking up the mass of people repeatedly and into increasingly smaller groups. Over the weekend, government officials convinced about 1,000 people they should enter legally via the bridge.

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The National Immigration Institute said it would detain anyone in the country illegally, hold them in detention centres and deport those who did not legalise their status. Any who made it through and continued north could expect a gauntlet of highway checkpoints.