Migrant caravan must walk as Mexico ignores demand for buses

Thousands of Central American migrants resumed their slow trek through southern Mexico on Thursday, and activists aiding the group said they were shifting their route toward the Gulf coast, a path closer to the Texas border.

The migrants set out before dawn after taking a day's break in the Oaxaca state city of Juchitan.

The activists said they would try to reach the town of Matias Romero, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) ahead.

They had tried to arrange bus transport from Juchitan, but failed, leaving them once again on foot, hitch-hiking and looking for rides where they can find them.

The migrants have not said what route they intend to take northward or where on the US border they planned to reach, and Juchitan, still about 900 miles from US soil, was something of a crossroads.

While Matias Romero would carry them toward the Gulf coast city of Veracruz and a route toward the Texas border, another large caravan early this year passed through Veracruz and then veered back toward Mexico City and eventually tried to head to Tijuana in the far northwest. Few made it.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Wednesday praised Mexico for stopping the migrants from getting rides.

"Mexico has stepped up in an unprecedented way," Sanders told Fox News.

"They have helped stop a lot of the transportation means of these individuals in these caravans, forcing them walking.

They have helped us in new ways to slow this down, to break this up and keep it from moving as aggressively toward the United States."
"We have about 5,800. We'll go up to anywhere between 10,000 and 15,000 military personnel on top of Border Patrol, ICE and everybody else at the border."
Later Wednesday, Trump told ABC News, "We have to have a wall of people."