A video shows thousands of migrants joining a human caravan in Mexico as pressure continues on the Biden administration over the issue.
Footage reported by Mexican news channel Fuerza Informativa Azteca shows a group of an estimated 6,000 to 7,000 people, mostly from countries in South and Central America, heading north through Mexico toward the U.S. border.
A banner held by some members of the caravan read: “Exit from poverty,” and further reports from local media said some were from India and Bangladesh. The group set out on Christmas Eve from Tapachula, near Mexico's southern border with Guatemala, the news station said.
It comes at a time when Republicans are trying to make border security and migration a key issue in the 2024 election, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Immigrants from the West African nation of Guinea strike a celebratory pose after successfully crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in Lukeville, Arizona, on December 7, 2023. Biden was criticized by Democratic Arizona Governor John Moore/Getty Images
According to statistics, there were over 2.475 million encounters in fiscal year 2023, up from 2.378 million the year before. The data includes expulsions and arrests.
The video appeared ahead of a key meeting between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to discuss the border issue on December 27.
President Joe Biden is under pressure on the border issue, and a Harvard CAPS-Harris poll released earlier this month found that only 38 percent of Americans “strongly approve” or “somewhat approve” of his solution to immigration.
Members of the caravan reportedly ranged from South America to people from India
It poses a significant problem for Biden's standing in the polls as he seeks re-election in 2024. A Gallup poll in December put his approval rating at just 39 percent.
The White House was even confronted with worrisome statements from key Democrats. Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs said her state needed “resources and manpower to reopen the Lukeville border crossing” during a lockdown. Hobbs sent National Guard members to the border crossing to assist local law enforcement.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection closed the border crossing because of “frequent encounters with migrants at the Southwest border, fueled by smugglers spreading disinformation to exploit vulnerable people.”
Further closures are also criticized. In December, two railroad bridges in Texas were closed amid reports of increased smuggling of migrants across the border by train.
“Approximately 45% of all rail cars traveling to and from Mexico pass through El Paso and Eagle Pass – there is not enough capacity at the other four gates to reroute them,” rail company Union Pacific complained on X, formerly Twitter.
The border crossings reopened on December 22nd.
Newsweek has reached out to the White House for comment.
Officials said the bridges were closed “to redirect personnel to assist the U.S. Border Patrol in detaining migrants.”
On December 4, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said it was Congress' fault for not adequately addressing the border issue.
“Congress has failed to act. They failed to act. And they continue to behave as if it were about the security of our border – as if it were a political football. That’s what they did.”
So far, a $110.5 billion foreign aid bill that included a $14 billion request to Congress for funding to improve border security has not passed and negotiations are ongoing.
Unusual knowledge
Newsweek strives to challenge conventional wisdom and find connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek strives to challenge conventional wisdom and find connections in the search for common ground.