A large caravan of migrants is advancing toward the United States in hopes of reaching the southern border before the November elections, fearing that if former President Donald Trump wins, he could close the border.
“We are running the risk of having our permits (to cross the border) blocked,” said Miguel Salazar, a migrant from El Salvador.
She said she was concerned that a new Trump administration might stop granting appointments to migrants through CBP One, the app migrants use to legally enter the United States by getting appointments at U.S. border posts where they present their cases to officials.
The app only works once migrants reach Mexico City or the northern states of Mexico.
It is unclear exactly how many migrants, from dozens of different countries, are participating in the caravan, but estimates range from several hundred to 1,500 or more. according to Breitbart.
A large caravan of migrants is moving north toward the United States, hoping to reach the southern border before the presidential elections in November.
The group set out on Sunday from Ciudad Hidalgo in southern Mexico, along a river bordering Guatemala.
Some said they had been waiting in the city for weeks to obtain permits to travel to towns further north.
Among them was Oswaldo Reyna, a 55-year-old Cuban migrant who crossed from Guatemala into Mexico 45 days ago and was waiting in Ciudad Hidalgo to join the new caravan, which was announced on social media.
He criticized Trump’s recent comments about migrants and how they are trying to “invade” the United States.
“We are not criminals,” he said. “We are hard-working people who have left their country to get ahead, because in our homeland we are suffering from many hardships.”
The group set out on Sunday from the southern Mexican town of Ciudad Hidalgo, along a river bordering Guatemala.
It is unclear exactly how many migrants, from dozens of different countries, are participating in the caravan, but estimates range from several hundred to 1,500 or more.
Other migrants are also expected to join the caravan as it travels further north.
Migrants trying to pass through Mexico in recent years have organized large groups to try to reduce the risk of being attacked by gangs or detained by Mexican immigration officials while traveling.
But caravans tend to break up in southern Mexico because people get tired of walking hundreds of miles.
Mexico has also recently made it harder for migrants to reach the U.S. border by bus and train.
It is unclear whether the Mexican government will support the caravan.
Travel permits are rarely granted to migrants who enter the country without visas, and thousands of migrants have been detained by immigration officials at checkpoints in central and northern Mexico, then bused back to cities in the south of the country.
However, the country has also provided police escorts to migrants in the past and provided them with shelter, food and drinks.
It is not yet clear whether the Mexican government will support this caravan.