Caravan migrants are choosing to go back to Honduras - here's why they're doing it

According to an MSNBC reporter from Tijuana in Mexico, some of the caravan migrants are choosing to go back to their home countries - and they say it is because they were misled about how easy it is to enter.

"They have realized that it is very difficult"

MSNBC's Gadi Schwartz reported from the migrant encampment where the situation had turned violent on Sunday as migrants tried to force their way into the United States.

"Many of these men tell us that they heard in Honduras that it would be easy to cross into the United States," he reported.

"Some of them told us that they had heard that there were programs, work programs," he continued, "that they would be eligible for and so now that they're here in Tijuana, and they have realized that it is very difficult to get into the United States, especially after what happened on Sunday, some of them are deciding to turn back."

"In fact," he continued as the camera swung to a tent, "this is a tent that's been set up by a bunch of different governmental agencies here in Mexico, but this is where people come if they want to go back to Honduras or Guatemala, or El Salvador."

"These are people who have decided that it is time to go back and that they don't have the opportunities that they wanted here," he concluded.

Schwartz also reported that Mexico is extending humanitarian visas to the migrants and setting up jobs for them.

The San Diego Union Tribune interviewed many migrants who said that they could not afford to continue to stay in Tijuana further, and others said it was not safe in the encampment for them.

Border officials repel migrants with tear gas

On Sunday some migrants attempted to storm into the U.S. by exploiting a weakness in one of the fences, but they were driven back by volleys of tear gas from border authorities. There were reports that some migrants threw rocks at law enforcement officials.

Despite the decision from some to move back to their home countries, Schwartz reports that relatively few have done so - only about 81 on Monday.

Here's the report from MSNBC:

On Monday, Schwartz reported that a majority of the migrants were young males who were not seeking asylum, which many saw as a rebuke to narratives advocated by some on the left and in the media about the migrants.