New 2,000-Strong Migrant Caravan Departs From Southern Mexico With Aim to Reach U.S. Border
Central American migrants -mostly families with children- taking part in a caravan to the US, queue along the highway to get a ride to Irapuato in the state of Guanajuato on November 11, 2018 ALFREDO ESTRELLA/AFP via Getty Images

A new migrant caravan departed from a southern city of Mexico on Thursday in hopes of reaching Mexico City and eventually the U.S. border.

The caravan, composed of roughly 2,000 migrants, set out by foot from Tapachula and proceeded to Mexico City to obtain humanitarian visas that would allow them to freely transit through Mexico's territory, The Daily Mail reported.

New Migrant Caravan Hopes to Join Another Convoy

The latest caravan, consisting mostly of Central American, Haitian, and Venezuelan migrants, plans to join the first convoy that departed from the same town in Chiapas on October 23. They wanted to catch up with the other caravan that is currently in Veracruz.

"The migrants are in high spirits, and we believe that authorities are not going to stop us," said activist Luis Garcia Villagran, who is one of the organizers of the caravan.

According to Villagran, the migrants demand documents that would allow them to be anywhere in Mexico. However, he noted that there are those whose goal remains to reach the U.S.

Some of the migrants who joined the new caravan became a part of the earlier convoy. Authorities from Mexico's National Institute of Migration earlier sent some of the migrants back to Tapachula. Other migrants have to quit joining the first caravan due to illness, including Alex Leyva from Honduras, who had to drop out of the migrant march last month because he got sick.

"My country is in the worst economic, crime, hunger, situation," said Leyva, adding that the children's education in his country was also affected by the crisis. Leva further noted that these were the reasons why he and his wife decided to "try to achieve" their objective of having a 'better life."

It can be recalled that some migrants in the first migrant caravan experienced dengue fever. Mexico's National Immigration earlier said that at least six cases were reported, and five of those involved minors who were taken to a hospital for treatment.

Apart from dengue, Kabir Sanchez, a volunteer doctor who helps in looking after the injured members of the migrant caravan, said more than 50 percent of the marchers were injured.

Sanchez noted that his colleagues encountered cases of people with foot injuries, respiratory problems, infections, and even pregnant women at risk of miscarrying.

Mexico Grants Visas to Over 1,500 Migrants From the First Migrant Caravan

The migration authority in Mexico on Tuesday said more than 1,500 members of the earlier caravan had been issued documents to regularize their stay in Mexico, Reuters reported.

According to the National Migration Institute (INM), it had provided 1,574 foreign nationals with migration cards and ensured they could work in Mexico.

The flow of undocumented migrants has reportedly surged since the inauguration of President Joe Biden, who has taken a more humane approach to the border crisis than former President Donald Trump.

The U.S. has recorded some 1.7 million people entering illegally from Mexico between October 2020 and September 2021, which was an all-time high for the period.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Joshua Summers

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