WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th January, 2019) The UN Refugee Agency is providing support to about 2,000 migrants traveling in a US-bound caravan that has crossed into Guatemala, Associate Comprehensive Refugee Response Communications Officer Diana Diaz told Sputnik.
"Today, almost 2,000 persons had crossed into Guatemala, where support is being provided by the civil society in coordination with UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees)," Diaz said on Wednesday. "UNHCR is working within a comprehensive inter-agency team across the region to monitor the situation, identify immediate needs and provide the necessary support as required."
More than 1,200 Honduras departed the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula on Monday evening while smaller groups departed on Tuesday, Diaz said.
The caravan consists of adult women and men, adolescents and children including some with no parent or guardian, Diaz added.
The first 7,000-strong migrant caravan set out from Honduras in the direction of Mexico and the United States last October, with thousands of Central American asylum-seekers following suit later in the year. As a result, from 6,000 to 9,000 migrants from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador are reported to have concentrated on the US-Mexican border.
In response to the migration crisis, over 5,200 US soldiers have been deployed to the country's southern border, as President Donald Trump has repeatedly stressed that he had no intention of allowing undocumented migrants enter the United States and seek asylum.
