Migrant caravan 'nat'l emergency'

US President Donald Trump yesterday called the migrant caravan heading toward the US-Mexico border a national emergency, saying he has alerted the US border patrol and military.

"Sadly, it looks like Mexico's Police and Military are unable to stop the Caravan heading to the Southern Border of the United States. Criminals and unknown Middle Easterners are mixed in," he said on Twitter.

"I have alerted Border Patrol and Military that this is a National Emergy (sic). Must change laws!"

Thousands of Honduran migrants yesterday prepared to continue their march after a second night in Mexico.

Mexican authorities had managed to block the "caravan" of migrants on a border bridge between Mexico and Guatemala, but many later crossed the river below in makeshift rafts before marching north.

After walking seven hours from the Guatemalan border, around 3,000 migrants arrived in Tapachula, Chiapas state, Sunday.

The migrants are generally fleeing poverty and insecurity in Honduras, where powerful street gangs rule their turf with brutal violence.

Yesterday, the caravan's next stop on the journey of at least 3,000 kilometers (1,800 miles) was Huixtla, a town around 40 kilometers away.

"We are well aware that this country (Mexico) didn't receive us as we expected, and they can return us to Honduras, and we also know there are drug traffickers who kidnap and kill migrants," Juan Flores, one of those migrants, told AFP.