Migrant caravan: All but 10 Central Americans now admitted to U.S. to apply for asylum

Daniel González | The Arizona Republic

Show Caption Hide Caption Migrants crossing at U.S. port of entry. Central American part of the migrant caravan group says goodbye to friends just before crossing to the U.S. port of San Ysidro in Tijuana on April 29, 2018

PHOENIX — All but 10 members of a caravan of migrants that traveled through Mexico from Central America have turned themselves into U.S. border officers at the San Ysidro port of entry near San Diego to apply for asylum, organizers said Friday.

An additional 70 presented themselves on Friday after spending five nights camped outside the gate in Tijuana.

A total of 228 migrants from caravan have now turned themselves in to U.S. border officers, according to organizers.

The 10 remaining may wait outside the gate in Tijuana to turn themselves in on Saturday.

The camp has been cleared out, organizers said.

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To qualify to apply for asylum, each migrant must pass an interview by a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officer to determine whether the fear they express of persecution or torture if forced to return to their home country is "credible."

Those who pass the credible-fear interview will be given a chance to apply for asylum, a difficult and lengthy process, either in the U.S. while they wait inside an immigration detention center or after being released to a family member or other sponsor in the U.S.

The caravan left Tapachula, a town in the Mexican state of Chiapas on the border with Guatemala, on March 25 to provide protection to migrants from Central America fleeing gang violence, poverty and political turmoil and to call attention to the conditions forcing people to flee from those countries.

Caravan: Migrants camping outside U.S. port of entry in Tijuana, Mexico About 200 Central American migrants from the caravan are camped outside the U.S. port of entry after being turned away Sunday by U.S. officials

The caravan has angered President Trump, who has characterized the group as a threat to border security and national sovereignty, prompting him to deploy National Guard troops to the southern border.

The caravan started off with an estimated 1,600 people, the majority of them women and children from Honduras. But by the time it reached Tijuana, the number had dwindled to around 300.

Irineo Mujica, one of the caravan leaders, said he is planning to organize a hunger strike among about 300 migrants who remained in Hermosillo, the capital of the state of Sonora, because the Mexican government has reneged on promises to grant humanitarian visas for them to remain in that country.