Mexico officials intercept about 1,000 migrants on highway

Some 200 military police, immigration agents and federal police blocked the advance of about 1,000 Central American migrants who were walking north along a southern Mexico highway on Wednesday, once again showing a tougher new stance on attempts to use the country as a stepping-stone to the U.S.

The group of migrants, including many women and children, set out early from Ciudad Hidalgo at the Mexico-Guatemala border and was headed for Tapachula, the principle city in the region. State and local police accompanied the caravan.

The officials blocked the highway near the community of Metapa, about 11 miles (18 kilometers) from Tapachula.

Unarmed agents wrestled some migrants who resisted to the ground, but the vast majority complied and boarded buses or immigration agency vans. Some migrants fainted and fell to the ground. One young man who collapsed was taken for medical attention.

Some parents sat on the pavement with their children, wept and begged authorities not to take them. Others jumped wire fences and ran into the thick forest beside the highway.

An immigration official at the site who was not authorized to speak publicly said the migrants would initially be taken to an immigration detention center in Tapachula. It appeared 600 to 800 migrants were being transported.

CNBC