Migrant caravan advances toward US borders despite Trump’s restrictions

Department of Research, Studies and International News 27-01-2025

A caravan of over 1,000 migrants left southern Mexico over the weekend for the US border, despite President Donald Trump deploying reinforcements to keep migrants out and cancelling all asylum applications.

On his first day back in office this week, Trump moved to end the “invasion” of the United States by sending 1,500 extra troops to patrol the Mexico border, halting the entry of all undocumented migrants and suspending asylum hearings and humanitarian parole programs.

He also revived a “Remain in Mexico” policy from his first presidency, under which people who apply to enter the United States from Mexico must remain there until their application has been decided.

While the flow of migrants across the border had already slowed significantly in the run-up to his return to power, some of those who left southern Mexico on Saturday evening said they were determined to try their luck.

“We have decided to go to the border and get an answer. We still hope to be able to enter the United States,” Anibal Jose Arvelo, a 37-year-old Venezuelan man, told AFP.

Some said they were leaving southern Mexico because of a lack of opportunity.

“It’s a tough situation here. There’s no work in Tapachula (a city near the Guatemalan border),” said Omar Avila, a 25-year-old Venezuelan man.

Avila was following in the footsteps of his ex-wife, who made it to Chicago with their son after a grueling journey through Colombia and Central America.

The couple’s daughter died along the way when she was swept away by the current while crossing a river in the Darien jungle, on Colombia’s border with Panama.

A third Venezuelan, Gerardo Yepez, 37, said he wanted to try and find work in Mexico City, only returning to his country if he fails.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has raised the possibility of regularizing foreign migrants who are barred from entering the United States or repatriating those who are willing to return to their homeland.