More than 3,000 migrants headed for the southern US border on Sunday in a bid to make it across before Donald Trump’s possible victory, US media reported.
Some members of the group said they hoped to reach the southern US border before the November election because they feared Donald Trump would honour a promise to close the border to asylum seekers if he won. Miguel Salazar, a migrant from El Salvador, said:
We risk that permits [to cross the border] could be blocked.
He fears that the new Trump administration could stop issuing permits to migrants through CBP One, an app used by asylum seekers to enter the US legally: they make an appointment at border checkpoints, where they state their case to officials. The app only works once migrants reach Mexico City or states in northern Mexico. Mr Salazar also added:
Everyone wants to use this route.
The group set off on Sunday from the southern Mexican city of Ciudad Hidalgo, near a river that straddles Mexico’s border with Guatemala.
Some migrants said they had been waiting in Ciudad Hidalgo for weeks for permission to travel to cities further north.
In recent years, migrants trying to pass through Mexico have gathered in large groups to reduce the risk of being attacked by gangs or stopped by Mexican immigration authorities while travelling. However, caravans tend to break up in southern Mexico as people tire of walking hundreds of miles.
Donald Trump has promised to tighten border crossing measures if he wins the presidential election.
Joe Biden’s administration, including Kamala Harris, has been criticised for weak border protection policies that have led to record numbers of migrants entering the US illegally.
