Caravan arrives at US-Mexico border

The Central American migrant caravan trekking toward the United States converged on the US-Mexican border Thursday after more than a month on the road, undeterred by President Donald Trump's deployment of thousands of American troops near the border.

Around 800 migrants riding on 22 buses arrived at dawn in Tijuana, which is located across from San Diego, California, and walked from the highway into the city in massive waves of people, their belongings on their backs.

They joined more than 750 other caravan members who had traveled ahead and reached the city in recent days.

The full caravan -- some 5,500 migrants in all -- was expected to continue arriving in Tijuana in the coming hours thanks to buses organized by charities, private donors and local authorities, with the last groups reaching the city by Friday.

Across the border, nearly 6,000 troops deployed by Donald Trump have been busy erecting concrete barriers and razor-wire fences to deter what the US president has described as an "invasion."

"I feel better now that we've reached the border. Tired, but better. I've been on the road for a month, traveling with my four daughters," Honduran migrant Miriam Fernandez, 32, told AFP.

The migrants are mostly fleeing poverty and unrest in Central America's "Northern Triangle" -- El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, where brutal gang violence has fueled some of the highest murder rates in the world.

The caravan began its journey on October 13 in San Pedro Sula, Honduras -- more than 4,300 kilometers from Tijuana.