Thousands More Latin American Migrants Heading to United States Border

Photo byMadhushree NarayanonUnsplash

Hundreds of additional migrants who left the southern Mexican city of Tapachula on Sunday may likely join the enormous caravan of thousands of migrants heading to the border between the United States and Mexico.

The larger caravan, which reportedly numbered 7,000 individuals, is stopped near the town of Huixtla, just north of Tapachula, according to Reuters. The smaller group, thought to comprise "hundreds" more migrants, will join the group that departed from Tapachula six days ago.

The majority of the migrants are from Venezuela, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, and Honduras.

Selma Alvarez from Venezuela told Reuters, "I think 3.4 months is too long to wait to get a humanitarian visa and to be able to travel through Mexican territory. Because we are at the mercy of coyotes and criminals, it is good that we accompany each other in the caravan; it seems safer to me."

Alvarez continued, "The group was eager to get to the border and begin the process of entering the United States with applications made via CBP One, an app that is a free US government app to request asylum.

There is pressure on U.S. President Joe Biden, who is running for reelection, to reduce the number of individuals entering the country illegally from Mexico. This year, a record number of people have traversed the Darien Gap, which separates Panama and Colombia.

Migrants head primarily to Chicago and New York City. Mayor Eric Adams has repeatedly said New York City is out of room, and the migrants are arriving with little support, resources, or coordination.

Mayor Adams told News 4 NY, "We must secure our borders and ensure whoever is coming across, they go through the proper vetting and ensure we do a decompression strategy to go to the over 108,000 cities, villages and towns in our country so that it does not focus on just a few cities in this country," Adams said. "Mayors across the country, they’re joining me with this. This is the type of bipartisanship we need to address these issues."