The largest refugee caravan in 18 months set off from Mexico for the United States on Christmas Eve, as border crossing numbers continue to fall.
Around 10,000 people led by Mexican activist Luis Rey Garcia Villagran left the southern Mexican border town of Tapachula and began the long march north, while more people already at the US border completed their journey this evening.
President Joe Biden whisked Secretary of State Anthony Blinken away from the Middle East crisis on Wednesday for a summit with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador after U.S. authorities registered more than 242,000 migrants in November alone.
A daily record of 12,600 was reached on Monday and even more people risked their lives in the Rio Grande at Eagle Pass in Texas as darkness fell on Christmas Eve.
“We are the poorest of the poorest of those who are at the height of need, those of us who have no money to pay for visas, or people smugglers,” Villagran said as the last caravan set off.
Up to 10,000 migrants left the Mexican city of Tapachula on Christmas Eve in the country's largest migrant caravan in 18 months
Meanwhile, those who had made it to the U.S. border were still attempting the dangerous crossing at Eagle Pass in Texas in the early hours of Christmas Eve
Biden spoke with his Mexican counterpart on Thursday ahead of a summit aimed at “addressing the unprecedented migration flows in the Western Hemisphere.”
This came after US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had to suspend cross-border rail service in the Texas cities of Eagle Pass and El Paso because migrants were traveling on freight trains.
“The two leaders agreed that additional enforcement actions are urgently needed to allow ports of entry across our shared border to reopen,” White House spokesman John Kirby said.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and U.S. Homeland Security Advisor Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall will also be heading south to “discuss further actions that can be taken together to address current border challenges.”
On Friday, López Obrador said he would urge his visitors to ease sanctions on left-wing governments in Cuba and Venezuela and increase aid to Latin America to improve conditions in the migrants' home countries.
“That's what we're going to discuss, it's not just an argument,” he said after speaking with Biden.
But he will come under pressure to restart deportations from Mexico, which were halted this month after funding ran out.
Mexican security forces did nothing to stop the march from the Guatemalan border
There were up to 3,000 children among the migrants from 24 countries counted by observers
Organizer Luis Rey Garcia Villagran said the protesters were the “poorest of the poor” who could not afford visas or people smugglers
Children and pregnant women were among hundreds who crossed the chilly waters of the Rio Grande under the cover of darkness to complete their journey to the United States
In 2023, there were more than two million illegal crossings of the US border with Mexico
House Speaker Mike Johnson has called on Biden to use executive power to stem the flow of migrants after Congress failed to reach an agreement on border changes demanded by Republicans.
He called for CBP to stop releasing detained migrants before their court dates and limit the use of probation, which allows the president to temporarily accept some migrants.
He even called on Biden to suspend all immigration – using his authority under Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows the president to stop the entry of foreign nationals for an indefinite period of time if the entry is deemed “adverse “is deemed 'to US interests.
“Legal reforms to restore operational control at our southern border must be implemented, but the crisis at our southern border has worsened to the point that meaningful action can no longer wait.”
“It has to start now, and it has to start with you,” he told the president.
Sunday's caravan is the largest since June 2022, when a similarly large group set out as Biden hosted heads of state and government in Los Angeles for the Summit of the Americas.
Another march across Mexico began in October, coinciding with a summit organized by López Obrador to discuss the migration crisis with regional leaders.
A month later, 3,000 migrants blocked the main border crossing with Guatemala for more than 30 hours.
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken (left) will meet Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador for crisis talks in Mexico City on Wednesday
Villagran said around 3,000 children were among recent protesters from 24 nations who drove north from the Guatemalan border in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas.
The Mexican security forces watched the convoy leave without intervening.
“We've been waiting here for three or four months with no response,” said Cristian Rivera, who traveled alone and left his wife and child behind in his native Honduras.
“Hopefully with this march there will be a change and we can get the permission we need to go north.”