Mexico blocks new US-bound migrant caravan

Migration advocates decry swoop on caravan of about 400 people from Central America, Haiti and Venezuela as ‘cruel’ act.

Mexican security and migration officials have blocked the passage of a new migrant caravan, detaining several people, as the government moved to break up the group just a day after it set off from southern Mexico for the United States. At about 5am local time (10:00 GMT) on Sunday, members of Mexico’s National Guard and the National Institute of Migration (INM) began surrounding the migrants on the edge of the southern town of Huixtla, prompting some of them to flee, a witness told the Reuters news agency. In the ensuing commotion, some parents in the caravan made up largely of Central Americans, Haitians and some Venezuelans were separated from their children as the officials sought to intercept people who ran for the banks of the River Huixtla.