Migrants to Trump: \'We are not terrorists\'

ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION) Central American migrants on Tuesday hit back at U.S. President Donald Trump who said on Monday in a series of tweets that "criminals and unknown Middle Easterners" were mixed in with a caravan of migrants bound for the United States, but the Trump administration have produced no evidence supporting that claim.

A Honduran migrant from San Pedro Sula, Jose Luis Gonzalez, said: "I want to tell President Trump that here there are only humble, hard-working people.

People who can help a country... We are not terrorists, we are not thieves, we are not gang members.

We are humble people who want to work and help our families." Rafael Ortiz, a Guatemalan migrant, said Trump "should look into his conscience." Angelina Lopez, a Honduran migrant who walked for the last eight days, said everyone is staying strong and she hoped everything would work out.

The caravan, which has been estimated at 7,000 to 10,000 mostly Honduran migrants fleeing violence and poverty in their homelands, is currently in the town of Huixtla in Chiapas state around 31 miles (50 km) north of the Guatemalan border.

Mexico's government said in a statement on Tuesday that it had received 1,699 requests for refugee status, including children.

The government estimates there are around 4,500 people in the group.

The caravan planned to move again early on Wednesday (October 24) morning.