(RepublicanReport.org) – In October, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released its number of encounters at the southern border for the month prior. During September, CBP saw over 218,000 migrants between ports of entry and nearly 270,000 in total. The report urged people from other countries to cross legally because entering illegally puts their lives at risk. But many migrants are tired of waiting for visa approvals to enter the US, recently making a drastic move.
On October 30, Reuters reported that a large group of migrants from Cuba, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, and Venezuela gathered together to walk from southern Mexico all the way to the Southern border of the US. The exact number of people varies, but there appears to be somewhere between 3,500 and 5,000 in the group. Civil protection officials and medical personnel in ambulances are reportedly escorting the migrants. Police are trying to make sure the group doesn’t block the highway or hitch rides along the way.
Irineo Mujica, one of the people who organized the caravan, said the people were frustrated because they weren’t able to get their requested humanitarian visas. The Associated Press reported the process can take weeks or months during which the migrants are in a holding pattern and not able to work to feed their families. Many are fleeing unstable countries and poverty in hopes of a better life. One man from Venezuela said they’ve been traveling for three months.
The latest caravan is reportedly the biggest since June of 2022, when at least 11,000 migrants left southern Mexico bound for the US border. One Venezuelan traveling with a dozen family members at the time said they had been waiting two months for visas, so they decided to walk.
As for the current group of people, it’s unclear what will happen once they reach the border, but Mujica said he will demand transit visas.
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