Some in Migrant Caravan Carry Fake COVID-19 Test Results, Say Guatemalan Officials

An officers of the National Institute of Migration of Mexico (INM) checks documentation of
Photo by ISAAC GUZMAN/AFP via Getty Images
Bob Price

Guatemalan officials report that some of the migrants in this weekend’s caravan carried fake COVID-19 test results. Others actually tested positive for the potentially deadly virus.

Guatemalan Foreign Affairs Secretary Pedro Brolo Vila told reporters that some of the thousands of migrants who violently crossed their border from Honduras over the weekend are carrying fake COVID-19 test results indicating negative findings, according to Fox News.

EL FLORIDO, GUATEMALA - JANUARY 16: Migrants enter Guatemala after breaking a police barricade at the border checkpoint on January 16, 2021 in El Florido, Guatemala. The caravan departed from Honduras to walk across Guatemala and Mexico to eventually reach the United States. Central Americans expect to receive asylum and most Hondurans decided to migrate after being hit by recent hurricanes Eta and Iota. Honduras recently asked to U.S. to extend their Temporary Protected Status. (Photo by Josue Decavele/Getty Images)

Migrants enter Guatemala after breaking a police barricade at the border checkpoint on January 16, 2021 in El Florido, Guatemala. (Photo by Josue Decavele/Getty Images)

Brolo’s comments came after Guatemalan security forces dealt with thousands of violent, mostly Honduran, migrants forcing their way into the country and ultimately, the United States. Officials report the violent migrant caravan threw rocks at security forces. Others pushed their way through the human barricade of security forces, Breitbart Texas reported.

Guatemalan health officials said 21 of the migrants tested positive for Coronavirus, the Fox News article continued. These 12 men and nine women are being held in quarantine before being returned to Honduras.

Brolo criticized the government of Honduras for not honoring their agreements on immigration and caravan migrants.

He charged that Honduran security forces actually accompanied the caravan “toward our borders where regrettably we saw how they entered violent, violating Guatemala’s territorial sovereignty.”

SAN PEDRO SULA, HONDURAS - JANUARY 15: A member of the migrant caravan searches his backpack for his identity document at a Honduran police checkpoint as the caravan heads to the Guatemalan border on January 15, 2021 in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. The caravan plans to walk across Guatemala and Mexico to eventually reach the United States. Central Americans expect to receive asylum and most Hondurans decided to migrate after being hit by recent hurricanes Eta and Iota. Honduras recently asked to U.S. to extend their Temporary Protected Status. (Photo by Milo Espinoza/Getty Images)

Honduran security forces stand by and migrants prepare to illegally force their way into Guatemala. (Photo by Milo Espinoza/Getty Images)

Officials estimate as many as 9,000 may have forced their way into Guatemala. That country’s security forces blocked mountain-locked roadways to keep the caravan from proceeding north to the Mexican border.

Mexican officials praised the work of Guatemalan security forces, NPR reported. The Mexican Secretary for Foreign Affairs called upon Honduras to do more to stop the “irregular flow” of citizens through the region.

National Police riot police officers observe Honduran migrants moving to Agua Caliente, on the border between Honduras and Guatemala, on their way to the United States, on January 15, 2021. - Hundreds of asylum seekers are forming new migrant caravans in Honduras, planning to walk thousands of kilometers through Central America to the United States via Guatemala and Mexico, in search of a better life under the new administration of President-elect Joe Biden. (Photo by Orlando SIERRA / AFP) (Photo by ORLANDO SIERRA/AFP via Getty Images)

National Police riot police officers observe Honduran migrants moving to Agua Caliente, on the border between Honduras and Guatemala, on their way to the United States, on January 15, 2021. (Photo by ORLANDO SIERRA/AFP via Getty Images)

The statement from Mexico reads:

The Government of Mexico recognizes the outstanding work of the Government of Guatemala, which has acted in a firm and responsible manner in the comprehensive care of contingents of migrants who violated their sovereignty, enforcing compliance with the immigration law and its health protocols to guarantee income. orderly and regular, safeguarding the integrity and life of migrants and their population.

Likewise, it makes a respectful exhortation to the Honduran authorities to attend, in a timely manner, this irregular flow of migrants, in such a way as to prevent further displacements.

Migrant Policy Institute analyst Ariel Ruiz Soto told Fox News he doesn’t believe many of these migrants will successfully make their way to the U.S. southern border.

“I suspect that if this caravan actually made it to the Guatemalan/Mexico border that there would be even the heavier presence of (Mexican) National Guard to try to detain the migrants,” he explained. “We saw this again in October. That caravan really stopped in Guatemala at that time. So I don’t foresee them getting to the U.S./Mexico border in large numbers.”

An unidentified senior Biden transition team member told NBC News that the migrants should not come to the U.S. — at this time.

“There’s help on the way, but now is not the time to make the journey,” the official said.

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s Sunday-morning talk show, What’s Your Point? Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX, Parler @BobPrice, and Facebook.

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