Immigration
About 1,500 migrants form new caravan in Mexico
by: Associated Press
Posted: Nov 21, 2024 / 06:07 PM CST
Updated: Nov 21, 2024 / 07:42 PM CST
TAPACHULA, Mexico (AP) — About 1,500 migrants formed a new caravan Wednesday in southern Mexico, hoping to walk or catch rides to the U.S. border. The migrants are mainly from Central and South America. Some say they are hoping to reach the United States before Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, saying they think it might be more difficult after that. They started out walking from the city of Tapachula, near the border with Guatemala, where thousands of migrants are stranded because they do not have permission to cross further into Mexico.
What are migrant caravans?
Migrant caravans began forming in 2018, and they became a final, desperate hope for poorer migrants who do not have the money to pay smugglers. If migrants try to cross Mexico alone or in small groups, they are often either detained by authorities and sent back to southern Mexico, or worse, deported back to their home countries. In that sense, there is safety in numbers: it is hard or impossible for immigration agents to detain groups of hundreds of migrants. So police and immigration agents often try to pick off smaller groups, and wait for the main body of the caravan to tire itself out. Usually the caravans stop or fall apart within 150 miles (250 kilometers).
What are the obstacles?
There is no safety in numbers, however, against threats, extortion or abduction by drug cartels in Mexico, which have become heavily involved in migrant trafficking. The cartels charge migrants or their smugglers for permission to cross their territories along the border.
https://www.borderreport.com/immigration/about-1500-migrants-form-new-caravan-in-mexico/
