New images show that hundreds of migrants who arrived in Mexico with the caravan of thousands making their way to the United States are being held in an undisclosed shelter while they wait for authorities to process their requests for some type of legal status.
Videos and photographs provided by a Honduran political activist who is part of the group show the migrants are being temporarily housed in a barnlike building lined with tents within the municipality of Tapachula, in the Mexican state of Chiapas near the border with Guatemala. Journalists have not been given access to the shelter.
Alejandra Martinez, 20, said that she and about 500 other migrants in the shelter are asking the Mexican government for asylum in order to legally continue their journey to the United States border with Mexico.
The plan is to ask for protection in the United States.
The images of the shelter surfaced as the political rhetoric surrounding the caravan of immigrants devolves and the Trump administration threatens to use U.S. armed forces to shut down its southwest border and reduce monetary aid to Central American countries.
The group in the shelter was among an estimated 6,000 people traveling as part of the caravan from Central America toward the U.S. The caravan left Honduras, crossed Guatemala, and now is making its way through Mexico en route to the United States, though groups like those in the shelter have splintered off. The migrants say they are fleeing violence, poverty and other issues and plan to ask for asylum upon arrival at the U.S. border.
On Friday, some members of the caravan broke down the barrier along the Guatemala-Mexico border. A few managed to enter Mexican territory, but the majority were forced back by Mexican authorities using pepper spray. Mexican authorities have informed the migrants that they should ask for legal status in Mexico. However, it's not clear what the exact nature of the status would be.
Martinez, who is traveling alone, said the Mexican authorities told her the process for seeking asylum in Mexico would take at least 45 days. Meanwhile, the group will be kept in the shelter, which Martinez described as "a place for cows," overseen by the Mexican authorities.
"But we are OK," said Martinez, who helped found the group "los Indignados" or "the indignant ones," that organized protests against the Honduran government of Juan Orlando Hernandez.
The activist said in a telephone interview that she fears for her life if she is deported by Mexican authorities back to Honduras.
The immigrants turned themselves over to Mexican authorities on Saturday. After that, Martinez lost contact with her family and friends in Honduras until Monday when she was able to post an update to Facebook. On Monday, the activist, who has documented the caravan on social media, said from the shelter in southern Mexico, "I am in danger," referring to political repression she faces back in Honduras.
Over the weekend, Honduran media published a video that presents Martinez as an anti-government infiltrator in the caravan. The activist said she has participated in peaceful protests and has defended herself by throwing tear gas canisters back at the Honduran police. On several occasions, the police responded with live bullets. On Dec. 1, 2017, a 19-year-old girl was killed at a demonstration in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, that Martinez attended to protest the re-election of President Hernandez. The U.N. Commission on Human Rights has condemned the use of excessive, and sometimes lethal force, against protesters like Martinez between December 2017 and January 2018.
"If I return to Honduras, they'll kill me," Martinez said from the shelter in Tapachula. "And I will be another martyr. I don't know what to do."
