TEGUCIGALPA, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Honduras on Tuesday said it has reinforced security along its northern border with Guatemala to prevent a new caravan of undocumented migrants seeking asylum in the United States.
"If people want to leave, leave via the authorized, legal checkpoints," Honduran Security Minister Julian Pacheco said at a press conference.
Minors who want to leave the country will be asked to show their parents' permission and a notarized document from a lawyer, the official said, adding that without these documents, parents could be charged and sentenced to three years in prison for attempting to take minors out of the country illegally.
On Monday night, a caravan of 800-1000 people, among which were many families with young children, set out from the northern city of San Pedro Sula on its way to the Mexico-U.S. border.
Some 60 minors were detained by authorities at Agua Caliente, a border crossing point between Honduras and Guatemala, said Honduran Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Nelly Jerez.
The migrant caravans first caught the media's attention last October, when hundreds of Central American migrants rushed to Mexico's southern border in a desperate attempt to reach the United States.
Honduran Ambassador in Mexico Alden Rivera said some 2,000 migrants in Mexico have applied for asylum in the United States.
