A fifth migrant caravan of around 1,500 people has departed from the southern Mexican border, with many of its members coming from Venezuela, Colombia, Haiti, Cuba, El Salvador, Honduras, and the Middle East. The group’s goal is to reach the United States, but Mexican authorities have stepped up efforts to break up the caravan and scatter its members across the country.
President Claudia Sheinbaum held a press conference on Tuesday, assuring that Mexico will be prepared to welcome its citizens who may be deported from the US, and that initial assistance will be provided at Mexican consulates and that immigration lawyers will be hired to handle these cases. Sheinbaum also reported that the Mexican government has managed to reduce the arrival of migrants in the north of the country by 75% in the last year.
The latest caravan split into two groups, with one continuing to Huixtla and the other resting in Huehuetán Park. Many migrants fear that if Donald Trump takes office, he will close the border and leave them with no chance of reaching the US. Anilka, a Venezuelan who fled her country due to the crisis sparked by the disputed presidential elections, said, “We ask Donald Trump to let us through before he closes everything. He is ruining our dreams and the future of our children. We want them to be well, as that is impossible in our country.”
Trump’s threats to close the border have raised concerns among migrants, who believe that he will eliminate the humanitarian visa application process, leaving them with no chance of entering the US. Eunice Rendón, coordinator of the organization Agenda Migrante, noted that migrant flows have been reduced not because of a strategy, but because Mexico is detaining a large number of migrants.