Migrant caravan turned back to Honduras

Guatemalan police and soldiers block migrants from making trip north

MORALES, Guatemala (KYMA, KECY) - Guatemalan police and soldiers have blocked a migrant caravan making its way to the U.S. They sent hundreds back to Honduras.

The caravan entered Honduras last week. Authorities met them with a large roadblock along a stretch of rural highway.

Police and soldiers then loaded many onto buses and into army trucks this weekend for the return trip to Honduras. Several small groups of migrants did evade officials.

Guatemalan president Alejandro Giammatei says he sees the migrants as a contagion risk amid the pandemic. He has vowed to deport them.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador speculated the caravan was part of a plot to influence U.S. elections.

America's southern borders remain essentially closed to legal immigration. Migrants continue to try to gain entry illegally in spite of ramped up enforcement efforts.