About 1,500 migrants have formed a caravan in southern Mexico, hoping to reach the United States before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January, when he is expected to crack down on illegal immigration, which has increased rapidly under the Biden-Harris administration. are.
The caravan, made up mostly of men, women and young children from Central and South America, passed through the city of Tapachula in southern Mexico, just over the border with Guatemala, on Wednesday. In Tapachula, thousands of migrants are stranded without weapons. Also permission to cross into Mexico.
The southernmost point of the U.S. border is at the Matamoros crossing near Brownsville, Texas, and desperate adult migrants must walk non-stop for about 16 days to get there. It is unclear exactly where the members of this particular caravan plan to pass.
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Migrants walk in Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico. (AP Photo/Edgar H. Clemente)
Migrants in caravans believe they are safe in numbers because it is difficult or impossible for immigration officials to detain large groups of hundreds of migrants.
Some hope to ride in vehicles to help them make the journey, while others make the arduous journey to the southern border on foot in the scorching heat.
“It's going to be more difficult, so we're hoping we can get a commitment sooner and get it through before he (Trump) takes office,” Yotseli Peña, 23, an immigrant from Venezuela, told The Associated Press. I'm going to do it,” he said. “That would be easier.”
President Trump has promised to close the southern border, citing the unprecedented influx of migrants into the United States over the past three and a half years.
He also vowed to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history, appointed hardline South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem to head the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and appointed Tom Homan to lead the new border Appointed “Emperor”. . ”
He also promised to end the Biden administration's use of the parole program, which allows immigrants to enter the country through expanded “legal channels.”
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President Trump and then-acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Thomas Homan meet during the Law Enforcement Roundtable on Sanctuary Cities in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, March 20, 2018. Homan was appointed by President Trump as the new “border czar.” (Javin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The number of people arriving at the border has fallen sharply since June, when President Biden signed an executive order that sharply limited the number of people entering the United States.
There were 101,790 border encounters in September, the lowest number since February 2021, but there are no major signs of a significant increase in numbers since then.
But while that number remains lower than last month, there are also concerns that the change in government could lead to a surge at the border as migrants try to enter the United States before a tougher regime takes office.
This year, in an effort to prevent people from flocking to the U.S. southern border to seek asylum, the federal government expanded the areas where migrants can apply for an appointment to enter the U.S. through the mobile phone app CBP One.
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Migrants walk in Tapachula, Mexico, on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Edgar H. Clemente)
Initially, the app was only available to migrants in northern and central Mexico, but authorities changed it to include migrants at the southern border.
Officials had hoped that by extending the app south to Tapachula, they could stem the rush north. But some migrants want to be close to the border so they can reach important appointments quickly and not risk missing out.
“They're determined to get into the United States in any way possible, because they've sold everything and there's nothing to go back to,” said Auden Cabello, an independent journalist who has covered the border crisis extensively. he told Fox News Digital. last week.
Fox News' Adam Shaw, Michael Lee and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
