Migrant caravan hits the road in southern Mexico in hopes of reaching the US border ahead of Trump presidency

A group of migrants have formed a caravan in southern Mexico hoping to reach the northern border area with the United States.

As many as 1,500 migrants, most from Colombia, Cuba, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras and Venezuela, marched on Sunday from Tapachula, a city in the southern state of Chiapas, near the border with Guatemala.

Women could be seen pushing their children in strollers, while several elderly people kept pace with a group that started their journey at night to avoid the area’s daytime heat.

The latest caravan came amid increasing threats from the incoming administration of newly elected President Donald Trump that a 25 percent tariff will be imposed if Mexico does not stem the flow of migrants to the United States border.

Trump said last Wednesday that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum agreed to stop illegal migration across a 3,000-kilometer shared border.

Sheinbaum, who became the country’s first female president in October, took to social media to clarify Trump’s statement, indicating that Mexico was committed to “not closing borders, but building bridges between governments and people.” .

Sheinbaum remains hopeful that tariffs can be avoided, but asserted that “if U.S. tariffs happen, Mexico would also raise tariffs.”

Mexican authorities have broken up two smaller caravans that formed in November after Trump’s election victory.

At least 1,500 migrants, most from Colombia, Cuba, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras and Venezuela, formed a caravan in the southern Mexican city of Tapachula, the third since Donald Trump won the election

Some migrants hoped to reach Mexico’s northern industrial cities, where they would consider the possibility of staying and working.

Others remain optimistic about their chances of crossing the southern border of the United States so they can “achieve a better life for their families,” said Santos Modesto, who left his home in Honduras.

“But I think a lot of people here, if there were opportunities in Monterrey and surrounding areas, they would stay there because there are a lot of Cubans and Venezuelans who would rather stay here than return to their country,” Modesto said.

Miguel Ángel told EFE that he left his family in Ecuador and decided to join the caravan after noticing more migrants arriving in Tapachula, where he feared for his well-being and work was frightening.

He added that the National Institute of Migration made matters worse because migrants did not trust the agency.

“I’m going to be honest, there is no one to trust, we witnessed it when immigration agents said they would help us,” Miguel Ángel, “but it’s a lie and they hold us for three days and don’t help us with documents or anything, that’s why we don’t trust anyone, we only go with the help of God.

Migrants gathered on Sunday evening in Tapachula, a city in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, opposite Guatemala, before beginning to march towards the northern border area opposite the United States.

Donald Trump has promised to impose a 25 percent tariff on Mexican products if the government does not stem the flow of migrants to the United States’ southern border.

Eliser, a migrant from El Salvador, was fed up after spending a month and ten days in Tapachula and thought his time would have been better spent traveling the 1,000 kilometers it takes to reach Mexico City.

“People are tired of being in Tapachula,” Elieser told EFE. “There is no work, no shelter, no money, and people have been waiting for four to five months and can’t find anything in this city.”

Migrants said they were also concerned that Trump could eliminate the migrants CBP mobile app One that makes asylum applications clearer after his inauguration on January 20. About 1,450 appointments are made daily, encouraging migrants to make an appointment before showing up at the border.

“There are many reports that he has said that he is going to abolish CBP One, that there will be deportations, the biggest deportation, but you have to have faith in God,” said Venezuelan migrant Francisco Unda, 38. .

Apart from the much larger first caravans in 2018 and 2019 – which were provided with buses to travel part of the way north – no caravan has ever reached the US border walking or hitchhiking in a coherent manner, although some individual members did make it.

For years, migrant caravans were often blocked, harassed or prevented from hitching a ride by Mexican police and immigration agents. They have also often been arrested or returned to areas near the Guatemalan border.