LGBT Youths Flee Honduras in Caravan to Escape Violence

A group of youths who identify as LGBT cross the road and seek out shelter at a distance from the larger group of thousands of Central American migrants who are moving north towards the U.S. border.

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The group of at least 40 Honduran LGBT youths says they face harassment at home and even along the route of the caravan, but remain determined to reach the United States where they say they will have a brighter future.

"It has been very difficult because of the harassment, the bullying, the jokes, the ill-treatment towards us," Honduran LGBT migrant Josue Robles said, referring to the treatment they say they have endured. "They exclude us from things that we should be allowed to do, in other words, they treat us as if we were abnormal," he added.

Regardless, the group forges on, fleeing what they described as horrific violence if they stayed in Honduras.

"I am from Honduras which is a country that has a lot of violence and (I feel) much more towards people who identify as gay or lesbian or trans. They kill people, they decapitate them, they dismember them and that provokes a lot of fear. It is for that reason I ran away because some of us have dreams, plans and goals that we want to accomplish and we want to prosper," Robles said.

On October 12, thousands of migrants began marching northward from Honduras. Mexico on Wednesday put the size of the caravan that left Honduras in mid-October at 2,800 to 3,000 people. Other caravans have since followed.

Setting out in the still of the night, thousands of Central American migrants march through Mexico with young children in tow, some walking while others hitched rides on the back of flatbed trucks.

Trump has ramped up his tough stance on illegal immigration in recent days. He deemed the group of migrants from Central America a threat to Americans. It is made up of people who have left poverty and violence at home and are heading slowly through Mexico toward the U.S. border. Trump referred to the movement as an "invasion."