U.S. warns it will take 'all steps' to block entry
***Article first published by 'WND' on Feb. 5, 2019***
Officials in the Mexican state of Coahuila are helping transport more than 1,700 migrants from Honduras to an unsecured part of the Texas border.
Breitbart News reported 49 private buses and dozens of police vehicles were deployed after hundreds of migrants began arriving over the weekend in the southern part of the state, which borders Texas.
Coalhuila Gov. Miguel Riquelme, who oversaw operations at one of the camps, ordered state police forces to travel with the caravan to the border cities of Piedras Negras and Acuna to ensure their safety, Breitbart reported. The buses transporting the migrants are funded by local businessmen and municipal governments, said Coahuila Secretary of State Jose Maria Frausto Siller in an interview with Vanguardia.
There is no physical barrier in that area, Breitbart noted, other than at the ports of entry.
However, on Tuesday, amid warnings that the U.S. will take “all steps” to ensure the “lawless caravan” doesn’t illegally enter the country, hundreds of Mexican law enforcement officers made a show of force near the border.
Mexican officials say they are are not allowing the migrants to come and go at will from their warehouse shelter to ensure their safety.
“It’s not that we’re trying to keep free people. They have to have migrant visas to be in our country and our city and trying to work together to handle this situation as best as we can,” said Piedras Negras Mayor Claudio Bres.
“Instead of California, Arizona and New Mexico that all have all land territory, this is a river that in winter is very dangerous for people who don’t know how to swim and we’re not going to put them through that situation.”
Meanwhile, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen M. Nielsen declared illegal entry “will not be tolerated and we stand ready to prevent it.”
“DHS will do everything in its power – with the assistance of federal and state partners – to hold smugglers and traffickers accountable, enforce our laws, and keep American communities safe,” she said.
Riquelme told Fox News that anyone who has not accepted temporary asylum in Mexico will be deported.