Migrant caravan: Mexico opens border to women and children

Thousands of migrants who were travelling in a caravan toward a border crossing on the Mexico-Guatemala frontier were earlier stopped by riot police.

A large number of families are still being held back by border crossings. Source: Getty Images

Mexican authorities on Saturday allowed dozens of women and children from the Honduran migrant caravan to pass into its territory, the country's ambassador to Guatemala said.

Luis Manuel Lopez told AFP the women and children would be processed by immigration authorities and taken to a shelter in the city of Tapachula, 40 kilometers (25 miles) away.

The women ran forward when immigration officers unchained a gate that had been pinning back migrants at the crossing.

A family in the migrant caravan waits at a gate separating Guatemala from Mexico. Source: Getty Images

"I'm happy, happy! At last!" shouted a relieved Gina Paola Montes, 21, as she ran onto Mexican territory. 

One of the women fainted, alarming her relatives. 

Eva Hernandez, 42, a Honduran activist, says the group had been promised they will receive refugee permits and a safe place to stay.

Thousands of migrants from Honduras are waiting on the border between Guatemala and Mexico. Source: Getty Images

"We better find that shelter today," she said.

The women and children are part of a group of thousands of Honduran migrants on the Mexican border with Guatemala hoping to reach the United States.