Central American migrant caravan camps at US border, 11 arrested

Some 140 Central American migrants waited anxiously on the Mexican side of the US border on Tuesday after a second night in a makeshift camp, determined to remain until their asylum requests are processed after the first eight members of their caravan were let into the United States overnight.

Gathering people along the way, the caravan set off more than a month ago from southern Mexico on a 2,000-mile trek to the California border, drawing attention from American news media after President Donald Trump demanded that such groups be denied entry and stronger immigration laws be enacted.

Bundled in blankets and donated clothes to ward off the cold, the mood among the men, women and children camped in a square by the border crossing was muted. At night some had prayed, while others, trying in vain to sleep in the biting wind, worried about what was to come next.

Related: At the US-Mexico border, migrants face an uncertain wait

"I'm preoccupied, anxious," said Reina Isabel Rodríguez from Honduras, lowering her voice so as to not be overheard by two grandsons, ages 11 and 7, whom she has looked after for years.

After meeting with attorneys advising the migrants, Rodríguez said she knew she likely would be separated from the two boys, the eldest of whom was abandoned by his mother after she had been gang-raped by members of the brutal Mara 18 crime group.

Alex Mensing, from the Pueblo Sin Fronteras transnational immigrant rights group that coordinated the caravan, urged US authorities to respect the law and not separate family members.

On Monday evening, US officials admitted eight women and children, fortifying the determination of others to remain at the border. This first group of migrants was expected to remain in detention for several days while their claims are processed.

The US Justice Department said it was moving ahead on the first prosecutions against what it called "suspected" members of the caravan. The department said it filed criminal charges against 11 migrants accused of entering the country illegally 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 jeopardized," US Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement late on Monday.

It was not immediately possible to verify that the migrants facing charges of illegal entry were from the caravan. Among the dozens who spoke to Reuters in the past month, very few said they would cross to the United States illegally and none planned to do so immediately.

Several appeared in San Diego federal court on Monday and were provided attorneys. Representatives for the US Attorney's office in San Diego, and the federal defenders office, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Backed up

The processing of undocumented arrivals restarted on Monday after delays over the weekend caused by the surge in migrants at the San Ysidro port of entry, the US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) said.

While delays were expected to ease, an agency representative said some individuals "may need to wait in Mexico as CBP officers work to process those already within our facilities."

On the asylum applicants, the Trump administration's hands are tied by international rules obliging the United States to accept some applications. Most in the caravan said they were fleeing death threats, extortion and violence from powerful street gangs.

Related: At the US-Mexico border, caravan migrants weigh staying in Mexico or risking US expulsion

Dozens of members of the caravan had been sleeping out in the open for two nights before the arrival of the tents in the surroundings of the busy San Ysidro port of entry, after cheering the news late on Monday that Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) had opened the gate to the first eight.

The caravan swelled to 1,500 people at one point but has since dwindled to a few hundred.

"We crossed the whole of Mexico," said Angel Cáceres, who said he fled Honduras with his 5-year-old son after his brother and nephew were murdered and his mother beaten and raped. They would stay, he said, "until the last person is in, as long as it takes."

It was not clear when more of the group would be allowed to make their asylum bids.

The majority of asylum claims by Central Americans are ultimately unsuccessful, resulting in detention and deportation. The Trump administration has said many claims are fake, aided by legal loopholes. Vice President Mike Pence has accused the caravan's organizers of persuading people to leave their homes to advance an "open borders" agenda.

Asylum seekers must demonstrate a well-founded fear of persecution at home, most often from a state entity. Central Americans fare badly in such claims because the state is rarely seen as directly responsible for the life-threatening situations they leave behind.

Trump on Monday railed against a system that may see some of the caravan members freed in the United States until their cases are resolved, because of a shortage of beds at detention centers and rules that limit how long women with children can be held.