I’m on the Guatemala-Mexico border.

This bridge is the main crossing

for migrant caravans on their way to the United States.

But this group, which left Honduras in mid-January,

is about to hit a barrier.

And they’re still over 1,000 miles from the U.S. border.

[Shouting]

“Mexico shouldn’t allow millions of people

to try and enter our country.”

Last year, President Trump threatened Mexico

with import tariffs, if the country didn’t seal

its border with Guatemala.

So Mexico deployed a newly formed security force

to block migrants from entering.

Now this wave of some 4,000 migrants

is putting enforcement here to the test.

I wanted to see how Mexico would handle the challenge.

What I find is a country taking a much harder line

on its southern border, in response to U.S. pressure.

I witness three attempts by migrants

to cross into Mexico,

each time, met with increasing force.

This attempt ends with Mexican authorities

letting small groups through to register with Migration.

It’s a legal obligation,

and also a way of breaking up the caravan.

Once in Mexico, the first thing migrants hear

is a warning from the U.S. repeated over a loudspeaker.

And then, an offer to send them home.

By the end of the day, close to 2,000 migrants

have registered to stay in Mexico,

many with the goal of someday still reaching the U.S.

What they don’t know is that Mexico will end up returning

most of them to Honduras.

It’s a new day,

and more migrants are on the border,

undeterred and ready to cross into Mexico.

This time, a few petition Mexican authorities on behalf

of the group, appealing for compassion to let them

continue the caravan.

But Mexico doesn’t budge.

So the group turns to Plan B.

Border security are waiting for them

on the other side of the Suchiate River.

The standoff ends with the migrants

staying put in Guatemala, and waiting for an opportunity

to try to cross again.

A few days later, with border security nowhere in sight,

hundreds of migrants manage to get through,

by crossing the river at a different spot,

only to be met by dozens of troops

who were waiting for them several miles down the road.

[Screaming]

[Shouting]

Some 800 people are rounded up and forced onto buses,

soon to be deported.

In the face of pressure from all sides,

Mexico stopped this group from reaching the U.S. border,

giving the Trump administration exactly what it wants.