Mexico’s incoming foreign minister has said that a scheme similar to the Marshall Plan that helped rebuild Western Europe after the Second World War will be necessary to handle the migrant crisis stemming from Central America and southern Mexico.

Marcelo Ebrard told reporters in Mexico Cory that a major investment of that kind would be necessary to develop the area and to ameliorate conditions that push migrants north from Central America and away from violence and poor economic prospects.

The idea has come up as incoming Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador considers how to handle the border crisis that he will inherit when he is sworn into office this weekend. As his swearing-in approaches, US president Donald Trump’s administration has suggested that migrants should be kept in Mexico as their asylum claims are processed.

Mr Ebrard, who is due to meet US secretary of state Mike Pompeo on Sunday to discuss the border and migration, said estimates were still being prepared to determine just how much funding would be needed to develop the region.

Mexico alone was likely to invest more than $20 billion (£15.7bn) in southern Mexico during the coming administration, Mr Ebrard said.

“As a result, any serious effort undertaken for our brothers in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala would need to be a similar sum,” he said. The majority of those involved in the migrant caravans making their way to the US border are believed to be Honduran.

Migrant caravan reaches Tijuana on US border Show all 30 1 /30 Migrant caravan reaches Tijuana on US border Migrant caravan reaches Tijuana on US border Members of the caravan of Central American migrants climb the border wall in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico EPA Migrant caravan reaches Tijuana on US border US Border Patrol agents seen through the concertina wire where the border meets the Pacific Ocean AP Migrant caravan reaches Tijuana on US border Central American migrants pray at a temporary shelter in Tijuana AP Migrant caravan reaches Tijuana on US border Darwin, a 12 year old migrant boy from Honduras, looks out from under a tarp while taking refuge at a shelter in Tijuana Reuters Migrant caravan reaches Tijuana on US border Central American migrants line up for a meal at a shelter in Tijuana AP Migrant caravan reaches Tijuana on US border Angel, a 13-year-old migrant from Honduras looks towards the United States past the border fence in Tijuana Reuters Migrant caravan reaches Tijuana on US border Members of the LGBTQ community -who split from a caravan of Central American migrants heading to the US- arrive at the Diversidad Migrante (Migrant Diversity) NGO headquarters, which they will use as shelter, in Tijuana AFP/Getty Migrant caravan reaches Tijuana on US border US military personell install barbed wire fences to stop the passage of Central American migrants EPA Migrant caravan reaches Tijuana on US border Young Honduran migrant Daniel Gamez waits with his family in a line for a meal after arriving with the Central America migrant caravan in Tijuana AP Migrant caravan reaches Tijuana on US border Two women, one carrying a child, walk north after crossing illegally into the United States as a Border Patrol agent moves in to detain them AP Migrant caravan reaches Tijuana on US border epa07165763 People who are part of the first migrant caravan from Honduras start arriving at the border, in Tijuana, Mexico, 14 November 2018. The first migrant caravan advances through the northwest of Mexico as the US has reinforced its military presence at the border. EPA/Joebeth Terriquez Joebeth Terriquez EPA Migrant caravan reaches Tijuana on US border A child looks out the window of a bus upon its arrival at a temporary shelter in Tijuana AFP/Getty Migrant caravan reaches Tijuana on US border Migrants from Honduras dry their clothes in the sand after washing off in the Pacific Ocean AP Migrant caravan reaches Tijuana on US border Central American migrants at a temporary shelter near the US-Mexico border AFP/Getty Migrant caravan reaches Tijuana on US border US police agents stand guard near the US-Mexico border fence AFP/Getty Migrant caravan reaches Tijuana on US border A migrant, who claimed not to be part of the Central American migrant caravan walks on the US-Mexico border fence AFP/Getty Migrant caravan reaches Tijuana on US border Eldin, a migrant man from Honduras, awakes next to his seven year old son Jose while taking refuge at a shelter in Tijuana Reuters Migrant caravan reaches Tijuana on US border Migrants line up for food at a shelter AFP/Getty Migrant caravan reaches Tijuana on US border A man installs concertina wire on top of the border structure on the US side AP Migrant caravan reaches Tijuana on US border Central American migrants sit on an overlook in Tijuana AP Migrant caravan reaches Tijuana on US border A migrant, who is part of a caravan traveling en route to the United States, shouts as he waits to receive food in a shelter in Tijuana REUTERS Migrant caravan reaches Tijuana on US border A man tries to get over a border structure topped with concertina wire AP Migrant caravan reaches Tijuana on US border People who are part of the Central American migrants caravan arrive at a shelter EPA Migrant caravan reaches Tijuana on US border A Central American migrant moving towards the United States in hopes of a better life, is pictured next to the U.S. border fence in Playas de Tijuana, Mexico, on November 13, 2018. - US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said Tuesday he will visit the US-Mexico border, where thousands of active-duty soldiers have been deployed to help border police prepare for the arrival of a "caravan" of migrants. (Photo by Guillermo Arias / AFP)GUILLERMO ARIAS/AFP/Getty Images GUILLERMO ARIAS AFP/Getty Migrant caravan reaches Tijuana on US border epa07174393 Members of the Central American migrant caravan remain at a shelter in the city of Tijuana in Baja California, Mexico, 18 November 2018. The 5,000 member migrant caravan that entered Mexico on 19 October that stopped this week in the city of Tijuana, bordering the US, are expected to meet in this city on the next day to make a decision about their future, according to local authorities. EPA/JOEBETH TERRIQUEZ JOEBETH TERRIQUEZ EPA Migrant caravan reaches Tijuana on US border Migrants pray at a temporary shelter in Tijuana AP Migrant caravan reaches Tijuana on US border Migrants shower outside a temporary migrant shelter next to the Us-Mexico border fence Getty Images Migrant caravan reaches Tijuana on US border US Border Patrol agents, left, speak with two Central American migrants as they sit atop the border structure AP Migrant caravan reaches Tijuana on US border A Central American migrant looks on through the US-Mexico border fence AFP/Getty Images Migrant caravan reaches Tijuana on US border A migrant stands next to the border fence REUTERS

Revitalising Southern Mexico was a key pledge of Mr López Obrador’s during his run for the Mexican presidency, and defending the poor more broadly has been a central theme to his political rise to the top echelons of Mexican politics.

But the migrant crisis on the US-Mexico border may be the first major challenge to Mr López Obrador’s commitment to help the struggling masses he has championed as he looks to balance demands from the US alongside those of the migrants who are fleeing violence and economic depression in Central America.

Mexican officials have already indicated that keeping migrants in Mexican border towns is turning into a humanitarian crisis, with officials expressing concern that keeping would-be refugees in Mexico as they await the conclusion to their asylum cases could force people into crowded shelters with squalid conditions.

There has been added tension at the border between Tijuana and California after US border patrol officials opened fire with tear gas canisters on migrants who attempted to rush the border, with a number of women and children caught up in the clashes.

The US, for its part, defended the use of those tactics and Mr Trump indicated that tear gas canisters and other means of physical control are not intended to be used on women and children.

“They’re not coming into the United States. They will not be coming into our country,” Mr Trump said. “We don’t use it on children”.

Border agents were forced into action because they were “being rushed by some very tough people”, Mr Trump said – calling the use of tear gas "very safe" despite images of women and children crying in pain after it was deployed

Critics have accused the Trump administration of a draconian response, while Mexico – which says it will deport 100 of those – has demanded the US investigate its use of tear gas.

The migrants and refugees themselves were urgently exploring their options amid a growing feeling that they had little hope of making successful asylum bids in the United States or of crossing the border illegally.

There was a steady line on Tuesday outside a tent housing the International Organisation for Migration, where officials were offering assistance to those who wanted to return to their home countries.

The Marshall Plan gave more than $15bn – or more that $157bn in 2018 money – in economic assistance to Western Europe following the conclusion of the Second World War. The measure, which was also known as the European Recovery Program, was started in 1948 and helped to promote US anti-communist policies in the post-war period. The money helped to restore major economic and cultural centres in the UK, France, Belgium, Italy and Germany.