Honduras detains 60 minors from US-bound migrant caravan

The Honduran government said Tuesday that it has detained 60 minors who planned to leave the country and head for the United States in a new caravan of more than 1,000 migrants on their way to the Guatemalan border.

“We have a record of approximately 60 children who have been stopped at the border,” Deputy Foreign Minister Nelly Jerez told reporters.

She said that many of the youngsters were traveling alone and others with only one of their parents, without the documentation required to leave the country.

Jerez said the minors will be handed over to the Dinaf family services agency and subsequently returned to their places of origin.

She also said that Hondurans who plan to leave the country “must have all their documents in order. Otherwise they won’t be able to get across the border.”

She added that the Honduran government will provide “shelter and protection” for those who have decided to leave the country in a new caravan bound for the United States through Mexico.

Jerez recalled that at least 11 Hondurans, out of the thousands of Central Americans who joined a caravan in October 2018, died in their attempt to reach the United States.

More than 7,000 Hondurans returned to their homeland, frustrated because they were unable to enter the US, while more than 2,000 sought asylum in the US or Mexico.