Caravan left San Pedro Sula on Friday after Mike Pence urged Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala to tell citizens to stay home 
 
 A group of more than 1,600 Honduran migrants who are attempting to reach the US border overland have crossed into with Guatemala – despite warnings that they would be turned away at the border. 
 
 Singing the Honduran national anthem, praying and chanting, “Yes, we can,” the group, who say they are fleeing violence and poverty, crossed the border on Monday afternoon and headed towards the city of Esquipulas. 
 
 “We are not criminals, we are migrants,” said Keilin Umana, a pregnant nurse who told the Associated Press that she had fled her home after receiving death threats from gang members. 
 
 The migrant caravan set off from the city of San Pedro Sula on Friday, the day after the US vice-president, Mike Pence, urged the presidents of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala to persuade their citizens to stay home. 
 
 “Tell your people: don’t put your families at risk by taking the dangerous journey north to attempt to enter the United States illegally,” said Pence at a regional security event in Washington DC. 
 
 The Guatemalan government, which is seeking US support in its controversial attempt to shut down the UN-backed crime fighting force investigating the president and his close allies for corruption, pledged to comply with Pence’s demands and halt the mass migration. 
 
 In a statement, the country’s Institute of Migration (IGM) condemned the migrant caravan as illegal, and vowed to stop the migrants from crossing its border: “Guatemala does not promote or endorse irregular migration in any forms, [and] therefore rejects movements organized for unlawful purposes which distort human rights, like migration, for their own end.” 
 
 About 100 Guatemalan police officers met the caravan at the border, but after a tense standoff of about two hours, the migrants began walking again. 
 
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 The migrant caravan has swelled from 160 to 1,600 since setting out last week from San Pedro Sula, which has become one of the world’s most dangerous cities thanks to a toxic combination of gang and state-sponsored violence, corruption and impunity. 
 
 Jari Dixon, a Honduran congressman, tweeted: “They are not seeking the American dream – they’re fleeing the Honduran nightmare.” 
 
 The group includes dozens of families with infants and children who hope travelling in numbers will reduce the risk posed by criminal gangs that prey on vulnerable migrants. The passage through Mexico is one of the world’s most perilous migration corridors. 
 
 Inside San Pedro Sula – the most violent city in the world Read more 
 
 This is the second Central American migrant caravan this year. In April, Donald Trump threatened to cut foreign aid after hundreds of people, mainly Hondurans, applied for asylum in the US. Since then, thousands of Central American children have been separated from their parents at the US border as part of an anti-immigration crackdown. 
 
 But rampant violence and poverty in Central America continues to force people to abandon their homes in search of safety and jobs. 
 
 Honduras remains one of the most dangerous countries in the world, despite official figures that claim a record-breaking drop in murder rates. Two-thirds of Hondurans live in poverty, with remittances accounting for a fifth of the country’s GDP. ||||| The United States has strongly informed the President of Honduras that if the large Caravan of people heading to the U.S. is not stopped and brought back to Honduras, no more money or aid will be given to Honduras, effective immediately! ||||| Honduran migrants walk past a roadblock of Guatemalan police as they make their way to the U.S., in Esquipulas, Guatemala, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. Police stopped the migrants for several hours but the... (Associated Press) 
 
 Honduran migrants walk past a roadblock of Guatemalan police as they make their way to the U.S., in Esquipulas, Guatemala, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. Police stopped the migrants for several hours but the travelers refused to return to the border and were eventually allowed to pass. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo) (Associated Press) 
 
 ESQUIPULAS, Guatemala (AP) — Hundreds of Hondurans hoping to reach the United States bedded down for the night in the Guatemalan town of Esquipulas after that country's authorities blinked first in attempts to halt their advance. 
 
 U.S. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, threatened on Tuesday to cut aid to Honduras if it doesn't stop the impromptu caravan of migrants. 
 
 "The United States has strongly informed the President of Honduras that if the large Caravan of people heading to the U.S. is not stopped and brought back to Honduras, no more money or aid will be given to Honduras, effective immediately," Trump tweeted Tuesday. 
 
 The group estimated at 1,600 to 2,000 people fleeing poverty and violence in Honduras marched into Guatemala in sweltering heat Monday, twice pushing past outnumbered police sent to stop them — first at the border and then at a roadblock just outside Esquipulas. 
 
 After those encounters, Mexico's immigration authority sent out a fresh warning late Monday that the migrants would have to satisfy Mexican officials individually and that only those meeting requirements would be allowed to enter. 
 
 But it remains unclear if governments in the region — many of whose own people are migrants — can summon the political will to physically halt the determined border-crossers. Honduras' ability to stop the caravan also may be limited because it has already moved into Guatemala. 
 
 Trump did not follow through on a similar threat to the Central American nation in April over an earlier caravan, which eventually petered out. 
 
 The exhausted migrants entered Esquipulas late Monday and sought out food and places to sleep, hobbling on blistered feet. 
 
 The hundreds of people fleeing poverty and violence in Honduras bedded down wherever they could, with some sleeping on the grass in a church parking lot; others crowded the floors of a migrant shelter and a sports hall. 
 
 Few carried food and some residents began to organize to help feed them. Some migrants asked for money, others passing a bakery were handed bread. 
 
 The migrants arrived at the Guatemalan border singing the Honduran national anthem, praying and chanting, "Yes, we can." The group defied an order by the Guatemalan government that they not enter. 
 
 "We have rights," the migrants shouted. 
 
 Keilin Umana, a 21-year-old who is two months pregnant, said she was moved to migrate to save herself and her unborn child after she was threatened with death. 
 
 Umana, a nurse, said she had been walking for four days. "We are not criminals — we are migrants," she said. 
 
 Many in the caravan traveled light, with just backpacks and bottles of water. Some pushed toddlers in strollers or carried them on their shoulders. 
 
 Carlos Cortez, a 32-year-old farmer traveling on foot with his 7-year-old son, said poverty back home made it impossible to support a family. 
 
 "Every day I earn about $5," Cortez said. "That isn't enough to feed my family." 
 
 The caravan was met at the border by about 100 Guatemalan police officers. After a standoff of about two hours, the migrants began walking again. Officers did nothing to stop them, but accompanied them several miles (kilometers) into Guatemalan territory. 
 
 Officers then set up the roadblock about a mile (2 kilometers) outside Esquipulas. About 250 police kept them from advancing for three hours, telling them they had to return to the border to go through immigration. The migrants refused to budge and eventually officers again let them pass. 
 
 The caravan began as about 160 people who first gathered early Friday to depart from San Pedro Sula, one of Honduras' most dangerous places, figuring that traveling as a group would make them less vulnerable to robbery, assault and other dangers common on the migratory path through Central America and Mexico. 
 
 Local media coverage prompted hundreds more to join during the weekend as the group moved toward Guatemala. 
 
 A day before the caravan formed, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence had urged leaders in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala to persuade their citizens to stay home and avoid the long, risky journey to the United States. 
 
 Historian Dana Frank, an expert on human rights and U.S. policy in Honduras, said Monday that the latest group could have political implications in the United States with the midterm elections coming up. 
 
 She said that "some in the United States will be quick to raise alarms about a supposed dangerous immigrant invasion" and that "others will view these migrants with compassion and as further evidence of the need for comprehensive immigration reform." 
 
 Frank said the caravan's rapid growth underscores "how desperate the Honduran people are — that they'd begin walking toward refuge in the United States with only a day pack full of belongings." 
 
 Honduras is largely dominated by murderous gangs that prey on families and businesses, and routinely sees homicide rates that are among the highest in the world. 
 
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 Associated Press writer Martha Mendoza in Santa Cruz, California, contributed to this report.
– Back in April, a "caravan" of immigrants marching across Central America toward the US border drew the attention of President Trump. Now comes round two. On Tuesday, Trump issued a warning to Honduras, where most of the immigrants in the latest group are from: "The United States has strongly informed the President of Honduras that if the large Caravan of people heading to the U.S. is not stopped and brought back to Honduras, no more money or aid will be given to Honduras, effective immediately!" Background and developments: The caravan: This one started last week with about 160 people in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, which the AP calls one of the most dangerous places in one of the most dangerous countries. As the group began walking out of the country, others joined, and most estimates put the current number near 2,000. The Washington Post, however, notes that volunteers suggest it's closer to 3,000, bigger than April's group. The path: The group already has crossed the border into Guatemala, after police in the latter country didn't do much to stop them, reports the Guardian. Then it will be on to Mexico and the US, though if history holds, many of the migrants will break off and remain in Central America. Unlike in April, Mexico has warned that this time it will turn back anyone with improper visa requirements.