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Central American Migrants Claim Assault by Mexican Authorities

HeadlineApr 19, 2019

In southern Mexico, authorities have halted a caravan of hundreds of Central American migrants from advancing north toward the U.S. border, where they hoped to seek asylum. The migrants were stopped in Chiapas by agents of the National Migration Institute, as Mexico’s government comes under intense pressure by the Trump administration to thwart attempts by asylum seekers to move north. This is Elizabeth, a Honduran mother of a 3-year-old boy who says she and her family were physically abused by Mexican authorities.

Elizabeth: “They came down on us as though we were criminals. From the beginning, we said that if we came, we came in peace. We have not made any fuss. We have not attacked anyone. How is it possible that now it’s the migration officials who came to attack us? What is this about? If they saw that my husband was carrying a child, why kick him and knock him down, knowing he’s got a child in his arms? What is wrong with them?”

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