Two teenagers from Honduras who traveled with the migrant caravan to the U.S. border were killed Tijuana, Mexican authorities said on Wednesday, adding that the investigation is underway.
Mexican authorities said the bodies of the two boys were discovered last weekend, with signs of being stabbed and strangled. They are believed to be about 16 or 17 years old.
But it is not clear yet whether the youths had planned to apply for asylum, Cesar Palencia, director of migrant affairs for Tijuana said.
A Honduran migrant family shows a Christmas tree inside their tent at a temporary shelter in downtown Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico, December 18, 2018. /VCG Photo
The two had left a shelter for migrant youths Saturday to visit a sports arena used as a migrant shelter in another part of the city, local police said, adding that two men and a woman have been arrested and charged in the killings.
A news release from the attorney general's office in the Mexican state of Baja California identified the suspects only as Esmeralda N., Carlos N. and Francisco Javier N.
Police are still investigating the motive.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Wednesday his government would seek “fair treatment” for migrants.
More than 2,000 mainly Honduran immigrants who traveled with the caravan remain in a shelter in Tijuana, Lopez Obrador said. U.S. President Donald Trump has insisted that they will not be allowed into the United States, but a few asylum seekers have already crossed the border.
Honduran migrant killed after U.S. deportation
A child touches the coffin of Nelson Espinal, 28, who is shot to death shortly after leaving his home in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, December 19, 2018. /VCG Photo
A 28-year-old Honduran migrant who had recently been deported from the U.S. was shot and killed a few blocks from his home on Tuesday, according to his family.
Nelson Espinal, was shot 15 times shortly after leaving his home in the capital Tegucigalpa, his sister said.
He was deported from the U.S. in late November and barred from returning for five years, U.S. official documents show. However, he planned to make another attempt to enter the country in January.
The neighborhood of Espinal's home is dominated by the Barrio 18 gang, one of the country's most dangerous. “He said that if he did not leave, they were going to kill him,” his sister said.
On Wednesday, a U.S. federal judge struck down Trump administration policies aimed at restricting asylum claims by people citing gang or domestic violence in their home countries.
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(With input from agencies)
(Cover photo: A 40-year-old migrant woman from Honduras, part of a caravan from Central America trying to reach the U.S., runs away from tear gas with her five-year-old twin daughters in front of the border wall between the U.S. and Mexico, November 25, 2018. /VCG Photo)