By turning back caravans, Mexico is acting as Trump's border wall, critics say
MEXICO CITY - One year ago, Mexico's often chaotic southern border appeared relatively orderly: Mexican authorities processed thousands of U.S.-bound migrants for humanitarian visas, allowing them to travel north legally.
The free-transit regimen was a drastic change of policy pushed by a new Mexican president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who had denounced his predecessors for having done what he called the dirty work of Washington in deterring migrants' northbound passage.
But this week, Lopez Obrador's government greeted migrants in a more hostile fashion. Mexican National Guard troops in full riot gear blocked their way and fired tear gas canisters to disperse those seeking to breach the nation's border with Guatemala. Hundreds of people were put on planes and buses back to Honduras, where most of the migrants in the latest caravan began their journey.
