- The Washington Times - Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Mexico said Wednesday that there are about 3,630 people traveling in the migrant caravan making its way through Mexican territory and headed for the U.S.

Another 1,743 people who were part of the caravan have now requested refugee status in Mexico, and their applications are being processed, the government said.

And 116 others have decided not to request asylum or to remain in the caravan, and agreed instead to be deported, Mexico’s foreign and interior ministries said in a joint statement.

Some Mexican press estimates had put the caravan at up to 14,000 people, while most estimates had said it was 7,000. President Trump said Tuesday that he’s become a good judge of crowd sizes and he eyeballed it at more than 10,000 people.

Mr. Trump has also been adamant that Mexico take steps to try to derail the caravan.

The Mexican government had deployed additional police to try to force the caravan into a more orderly entry into Mexico, but the caravan members resisted and instead busted into Mexico, breaking down barriers and swimming a river from Guatemala.

Once in Mexico, the government there has given the caravan shelter and provided police escort.

Officials in their statement Wednesday did not say how they will handle the more than 3,600 caravan members who seem intent on using their territory as a waypoint for the journey to the U.S.

• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.

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