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Mexico torn between stopping, aiding migrant caravan

Tapanatepec, Mexico • The Mexican government seems torn between stopping several thousand Central American migrants from traveling toward the U.S. border in a caravan or burnishing its international human rights image.

On Saturday, more than a hundred federal police dressed in riot gear blocked a rural highway in southern Mexico shortly before dawn to encourage the migrants to apply for refugee status in Mexico rather than continuing the long, arduous journey north. U.S. President Donald Trump has urged Mexico to prevent the caravan from reaching the border.

Police let the caravan proceed after representatives from Mexico's National Human Rights Commission convinced them that a rural stretch of highway without shade, toilets or water was no place for migrants to entertain an offer of asylum.