A caravan of about 2,000 migrants left southern Mexico Sunday, Oct. 20, hoping to reach the U.S. southern border before the election on Nov. 5. This group is the third and largest since Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum took office Oct. 1. Sheinbaum is maintaining her predecessor Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s immigration policies, according to reports from The Associated Press.
Other groups encompassing 800 or 900 migrants, mostly from Venezuela, left Mexico earlier in October. Venezuelan migrants said dire situations in their country are motivating them to look for better opportunities in the United States.
Migrants told the AP that they worry that after the 2024 U.S. presidential race, either a Harris or a Trump administration may bring an end to asylum appointments through the Biden administration’s CBP One app.
“That is what makes us fearful,” one migrant making the journey with his wife said. “They say this could change because they could both close the CBP One appointment and all the services that are helping migrants.”
One activist estimates about 40,000 migrants are currently stranded in southern Mexico.
The Biden-Harris administration faced sharp criticism for its handling of immigration as U.S. Customs and Border Protection numbers show agents have encountered 8.6 million individuals at the U.S. southern border from fiscal year 2021 through fiscal year 2024.
Earlier this month, President Joe Biden signed an executive order expanding asylum restrictions for migrants looking to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. Under the action, migrants will not be granted asylum when federal officials deem the border overwhelmed. Restrictions won’t be lifted until there are fewer than 1,500 border crossings per day for 30 days.
Immigration is a key issue for voters. On the campaign trail, former President Donald Trump has said he will carry out mass deportations and hire 10,000 border patrol agents, while Vice President Kamala Harris says she stands by the failed bipartisan Senate border bill that would have poured $20 billion into border resources and hired 1,500 new agents.
