Another caravan of migrants is headed to the U.S.-Mexico border.

Caravan(ANN)-About 600 migrants gathered Monday at the bus station in the city of San Pedro Sula, Honduras, and about half of them departed on buses to the Guatemalan border, the Associated Press reports.

These roughly 300 people largely consisted of women and children.

One woman traveling in the caravan told the AP she would ask U.S. authorities for asylum or refugee status, “because it’s not possible to live in Honduras anymore.”

Last year, reports of migrant caravans from Central American heading to the southern border became a major sticking point during the 2018 midterm elections. Although many of the migrants said they were seeking asylum in the U.S. to escape violence and poverty at home, President Trump and his allies warned that the caravans had been infiltrated by criminals. Over the past couple months, border agents have used tear gas on at least two occasions to deter migrants fed up with long processing times from storming and crossing the border near Tijuana.

Upon hearing of a new caravan forming in Honduras last week, Trump seized on the news to make the case for his demand for approximately $5.6 billion in border wall funding.

“There is another major caravan forming right now in Honduras. And so far — we’re trying to break it up,” he told reporters Thursday. “But so far, it’s bigger than anything we’ve seen. And a drone isn’t going to stop it. And a sensor isn’t going to stop it. But you know what’s going to stop it in its tracks? A nice, powerful wall.”

With Trump and Senate Republican leadership declining to accept any spending legislation without the funds, and Democrats refusing any bills with it attached, a partial government shutdown has left 800,000 federal employees without pay until a deal is struck.

Source: washingtonexaminer.com