A migrant woman and her daughter from Honduras, part of a caravan of thousands traveling from Central America to the United States, prepare to get on a bus bound for Mexicali at a makeshift camp in Navojoa, Mexico November 17, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
MEXICALI, Mexico, November 18 (Reuters) - Hundreds of migrants from a caravan of Central Americans were stalled at the U.S.-Mexico border on Saturday, where a handful said they welcomed recent Mexican offers of employment in the face of a hostile U.S. reception.
The Mexican government last week reiterated job offers to the migrants, saying that those who obtained legal status could occupy thousands of vacancies, most of them in the country's "maquiladoras," doing factory work.
Since arriving at the border last week, they have been denied entry through the gates linking Mexico to the United States.
Dozens of the mostly Hondurans waited in lines to bathe and washed clothes sullied from 2,600 miles of relentless travel.
Several members of the caravan, which left the crime-wracked city of San Pedro Sula, Honduras, on Oct. 13, told Reuters they would be willing to stay put in Mexico rather than face rejection across the border.
"If we had work, we would stay. This has been very tiring," said Orbelina Orellana, a 26-year-old Honduran mother of three, waiting at the Alfa and Omega shelter in the city of Mexicali, which borders Calexico, California.
"I cry a lot to not be able to feed them as I'd like," Orellana said of her children. "I just want an opportunity."
Briefly stalled by Mexican riot police on a highway crossing between two southern Mexican states late last month, a dozen migrants told Reuters they rejected such offers, preferring to try their luck in the United States.
[caption id="attachment_419213" align="aligncenter" width="800"]
A migrant, part of a caravan of thousands traveling from Central America en route to the United States, stands in front of a bus during a break to accompany another bus stopping for repairs on its way to Mexicali, on a shoulder of a highway in Sonoyta, Mexico November 17, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_419214" align="aligncenter" width="800"]
Migrants, part of a caravan of thousands traveling from Central America en route to the United States, ride in a bus on its way to Mexicali, in Navojoa, Mexico November 17, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_419216" align="aligncenter" width="800"]
A migrant, part of a caravan of thousands traveling from Central America en route to the United States, sits on a floor of a bus which is on the way to Mexicali, in Navojoa, Mexico November 17, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_419218" align="aligncenter" width="800"]
A migrant boy from Honduras, part of a caravan of thousands traveling from Central America en route to the United States, drinks water in a bus during a break to accompany another bus which stopped for repairs on its way to Mexicali, on a shoulder of a highway in Sonoyta, Mexico November 17, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_419220" align="aligncenter" width="800"]
A migrant, part of a caravan of thousands traveling from Central America en route to the United States, eats food in a bus while during a stop to wait for another bus to undergo repairs, on its way to Mexicali, on a shoulder of a highway in Sonoyta, Mexico November 17, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_419221" align="aligncenter" width="800"]
A migrant, part of a caravan of thousands traveling from Central America en route to the United States, looks out of the window of a bus as it stops for repairs on its way to Mexicali, on a shoulder of a highway in Sonoyta, Mexico November 17, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_419222" align="aligncenter" width="800"]
A migrant from Honduras, part of a caravan of thousands traveling from Central America to the United States, prepares to get on a bus bound for Mexicali at a makeshift camp in Navojoa, Mexico November 17, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_419223" align="aligncenter" width="800"]
A migrant girl, part of a caravan of thousands traveling from Central America to the United States, hugs her doll on a bus bound for Mexicali at a makeshift camp in Navojoa, Mexico November 17, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_419224" align="aligncenter" width="800"]
Migrants, part of a caravan of thousands traveling from Central America to the United States, ride on a bus which is on the way to Mexicali, in Navojoa, Mexico November 17, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon?[/caption]
But on Saturday, some said that thinking had changed.
"We had the idea to cross to the United States, but they told us it will be nearly impossible," said Mayra Gonzalez, 32, traveling with her two children. "We cannot starve as we wait to find out if they'll give us asylum. Better to work, by the grace of God, here in Mexico."
In a sharp reversal of longstanding U.S. policy, President Donald Trump's administration last week began enforcing new rules that curtail asylum rights for anyone who arrives without documents at the U.S. border.
Trump earlier this month deployed almost 6,000 troops along the long U.S. border with Mexico.
As they wound north through Mexico, the migrants were helped along by local authorities and residents who offered food, clothing and even free rides on daily treks that averaged 30 miles a day, much of it on foot.
But that welcome became noticeably frostier as the caravan reached the border.
In Tijuana, a city long accustomed to a population of migrants in transit, deportees and U.S. pleasure-seekers, a clutch of local residents last week threw rocks at the migrants, telling them to go home.
But some said the Central Americans could help boost the local economy.
"We are not against migration," Ulises Araiza, President of the Association of Human Resources of Industry in Tijuana, told Reuters.
"We know the situation that these people face in their country. But we also favor order so as to integrate them into the labor sector, because only in Tijuana do we have a demand in the maquiladora industry for 5,000 people."
Government shutdown if no funds for border wall: Trump
Washington, November 18 (IANS) US President Donald Trump told the media at the White House here that this would be a "good time" for a government shutdown if he doesn't get funding from Congress for his border wall.
"I think probably, if I was ever going to do a shutdown over border security, when you look at the caravans, when you look at the mess, when you look at the people coming in, this would be a very good time to do a shutdown," CNN quoted Trump as saying on Saturday.
Trump added, however, that he didn't think a shutdown would "be necessary, because I think the Democrats will come to their senses".
Congress averted a government shutdown in September by passing a massive spending bill to fund a large portion of the government.
The package did not, however, include money for Trump's border wall, and Congress passed a shorter-term spending bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security, among other agencies, until December 7.
At a White House event in August, Trump said he was looking for about $5 billion for the wall to cover this fiscal year, which some Democrats have already said they would vote against.
Trump also said on Saturday that the US military will remain at the US-Mexico border "as long as necessary", suggesting that the 5,900 troops deployed to the border could stay there past December 15, the scheduled end of the mission.
The President also touted the "tremendous military force" assigned to the border mission in Texas, Arizona and California, lauding the troops for building "great fences".
"They built great fences. They built a very powerful fence, a different kind of a fence, but very powerful. The fence is fully manned," he said.
