First 'caravan' migrants start asylum process

TIJUANA, Mexico - Eight women and children from a Central American caravan entered United States territory to seek asylum on Monday, after a monthlong journey through Mexico that drew President Donald Trump's wrath.

Carrying scant possessions with them, the asylum-seekers walked through a door into the San Ysidro port of entry on the bidding of a Customs and Border Patrol officer, a witness said, hours after Vice President Mike Pence promised they would be processed in line with US law.

About 140 others were still waiting in Mexico at the border crossing, the nation's busiest, said Alex Mensing, project organizer for Pueblo Sin Fronteras, which is leading the caravan.

"The spirits are high, there was good news for everybody," Mensing said on the Mexican side of the crossing, moments after learning that some were allowed in.

The first to enter were part of a small group from the caravan who Mexican officials let walk over a pedestrian bridge on Sunday and who have been camped at the San Ysidro gate ever since, when the CBP said the facility between Tijuana and San Diego was saturated.

Fleeing what they say are death threats, extortion and violence in neighborhoods controlled by the powerful Mara street gangs, once in the US the migrants must convince officials they have reason to fear returning home.

The majority of claims by Central American asylum-seekers are ultimately unsuccessful, resulting in detention and deportation. The Trump administration says many asylum claims are fake, aided by loopholes in the law.

The caravan has been in the spotlight ever since it began a more than 3,200 kilometer journey from southern Mexico, gathering 1,500 people at one point, to the fury of Trump, who demanded that officials do not let such groups into the country.

His administration's hands are tied, however, by international rules obliging the US to accept asylum applications.

Reuters - AP