Migrant caravan: Asylum seekers travel through Mexico as Trump walks back suggestion that migrants throwing stones will be shot at border
Critics say the president is stoking fears about the caravan for political reasons ahead of midterm elections
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Your support makes all the difference.Thousands of refugees and migrants from Central America are walking and hitchhiking northwards through Mexico, with Donald Trump walking back his suggestion that any migrants found throwing stones at the US border could be shot by the military.
In addition to this original group, more than 1,000 migrants in a second caravan that forced its way across the river from Guatemala have begun arriving in the southern Mexico city of Tapachula.
President Trump made clear Thursday he will do everything in his power to stop them, dispatching extra troops, threatening to shut border entirely and saying in an afternoon press conference the military would consider rocks thrown at active troops "firearms". He later said that no migrants would be shot by the American military, but that anyone throwing rocks would be arrested.
The issue is being amplified by the president with less than a week before the midterm elections, and various sources have implied or stated without proof that Democrats and progressive donors are somehow funding the caravan that is composed of individuals and families fleeing dangerous conditions in their home countries in Central America. Others, including Mr Trump, have claimed — again, without proof — that the caravan includes "Middle Easterners". The president also indicated that he has no proof that Middle Easterners are in the caravan.
While numerous news outlets and watchdog groups have tried and failed to find proof for those claims — and none has been provided — Republicans clearly see a winning strategy in trying to tie Democrats to the caravan.
In the contentious Texas Senate race, for example, Senator Ted Cruz has attacked his Democratic opponent, Congressman Beto O'Rourke, and claimed that his campaign has been funding the migrant caravan. That statement was not substantiated with evidence that any of that financial support has occurred.
To see how the day unfolded, follow our live blog below.
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The Pentagon has identified about 7,000 troops that could be deployed to the border with Mexico if needed, a US official has told Reuters.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the number was an initial estimate and could change.
On Tuesday, the top US general overseeing a deployment of more than 5,200 troops to the border with Mexico by the end of this week and that troop levels would rise further.
Here is more from the official who has spoken to Reuters, who says that 2,000 troops could be on stand-by.
"The total number of troops deployed will change each day as military forces flow into the operating area, but initial estimates indicate the Department of Defense has identified approximately 7,000 troops to support, if required, Operation Faithful Patriot," the official said.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders has been talking about the migrant caravan and birthright citizenship on Fox News this morning:
A number of former White House officials have said that sending the army to the border will do little.
Reuters has been speaking to those in the caravan as it moves through Mexico:
Thousands of Central Americans in a caravan that has already advanced 250 miles (410 kilometers) into Mexico hope they won't have to walk anymore, at least for a while.
Red Cross personnel have bandaged the swollen feet of Honduran farmer Omar Lopez in the southern city of Juchitan, where the caravan was paused for the day. He had been pounding the hot asphalt of highways every day for the last two weeks after spending nights on concrete pavements with just a thin sheet of plastic for cover, and that had taken its toll.
"We are waiting to see if they are going to help us out with buses, to continue the trip," said Lopez, 27.
Organisers say the buses, if they do materialise, would take the estimated 4,000 migrants to Mexico City for meetings with legislators, not to the still-distant US border, though some would probably continue to the border after reaching the capital.
Here are some images of the caravan making its way through southern Mexico.
To give a sense of what travelling with the caravan is like, here was the queue for breakfast at the latest stop.
Some more images from the camp from journalist Sarah Kinosian who is travelling with the caravan.
President Donald Trump's complaints that Mexico is not doing enough to stop a caravan of migrants are being contradicted by his own White House.
Mr Trump tweeted on Wednesday morning that Mexican soldiers were "unable or unwilling" to stop the thousands of migrants moving toward the United States border.
But White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told Fox News that "Mexico has stepped up in an unprecedented way."
Mr Trump has consistently exaggerated the size of the caravan and the threat it plays to the United States. The group is approximately 900 miles from the border.
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