C.American Caravan Gains Speed, First Migrants Cross Border

Hundreds of Central Americans arrived at the United States's southern border Wednesday, defying visiting US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, as the rest of a migrant caravan dramatically accelerated its pace to join them.

Tijuana, Mexico, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Nov, 2018 ) :Hundreds of Central Americans arrived at the United States's southern border Wednesday, defying visiting US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, as the rest of a migrant caravan dramatically accelerated its pace to join them.

Large groups of migrants gathered on the beach in the northern city of Tijuana at the border fence that separates Mexico from California, climbing on top of it and even jumping down to the other side as US border patrol agents looked on -- before quickly scrambling back to the Mexican side.

"We're not criminals!" some of them shouted, in a pointed message to US President Donald Trump, who has deployed some 5,900 troops to the border as the caravan approaches.

Another 4,000 migrants -- the main caravan -- are expected to reach the border in a matter of days, fleeing poverty and violence in their home countries.

At least nine migrants from the caravan crossed decisively into the US side, and were promptly arrested by border patrol officers, an AFP correspondent said.

They included a mother with her four children and a 19-year-old pregnant woman from Honduras named Jazmin Monserrat.

"She didn't tell me she was going to do it. Before I knew it she was on the other side," her 17-year-old husband, Moises Hernandez, told AFP.

"I understand. She's looking for a new life. We're tired of the poverty in our country."Under an executive order Trump issued last week, migrants who do not cross at official border posts will no longer be allowed to request asylum, and face automatic deportation.

Many of the migrants in Tijuana say they will wait for the rest of the caravan to arrive before trying to cross.