MEXICO CITY: Hopes rose on Tuesday among a caravan of migrants who travelled from Central America to seek asylum in the United States after US border authorities allowed the first small group of women and children entry from Mexico overnight.

Gathering people along the way, the caravan set off a month ago on a 3,220-km trek across Mexico to the US border, drawing attention from American news media after President Donald Trump took to Twitter to demand such groups not be granted entry and urging stronger immigration laws.

Celebrations erupted on Monday night among dozens of migrants camped near the US border crossing in Tijuana, Mexico, after US officials admitted eight women and children, fuelling the determination of others to remain until they were admitted.

However, the US Department of Justice late on Monday announced what it described as the first prosecutions against members of the caravan, filing criminal charges against 11 migrants accused of entering the country illegally about four miles (6 km) west of the San Ysidro, California, border crossing.

“The United States will not stand by as our immigration laws are ignored and our nation’s safety is jeopardised,” US Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement announcing the charges.

The statement did not provide a figure on any other caravan members who might have also been detained.

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2018