Caravan of up to 15,000 migrants set to crash US border as Blinken prepares to travel to Mexico

By Selim Algar

 

A fresh wave of up to 15,000 migrants is set to crash into the already flooded US southern border as Secretary of State Antony Blinken prepares for a dire state visit to Mexico later this week.

Hailing mostly from Cuba, Haiti and Honduras, the newly formed caravan of about 8,000 asylum-seekers began its march through Mexico to the border days before Blinken’s meeting with Mexican President Andres Lopez Manuel Obrador to discuss surging illegal immigration.

Defiant radical migrant-rights activist Luis Garcia Villagran, who is accompanying the group, predicted that staggering number could swell to 15,000 people by the time it reaches the border.

“We won’t stop — we’ll keep walking,’’ he vowed.

Departing from the southern Mexican city of Tapachula, the throng began its journey Christmas Eve.

Migrants at the front of the mass held a large cross along with a banner reading “Exodus from poverty.”

Tapachula officials said the town’s resources were straining to accommodate the migrants who gathered there in unmanageable droves.

“The problem is that the southern border [with Guatemala] is open, and 800 to 1,000 people are crossing it daily,” Villagran said. “If we don’t get out of Tapachula, the town will collapse.”

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The caravan advanced roughly 9 miles after beginning their trek at dawn Sunday, according to the BBC.

There have been more than 2 million migrant encounters at the US southern border in the 2022 and 2023 fiscal years, with officials there warning that the influx shows no signs of slowing.

Nearly a quarter million migrants crossed the southern US border in November alone — a new high for the month and the third highest total in history.

With pressure mounting on the White House to tackle the spiraling crisis, Obrador has signaled a willingness to work with US officials.

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The Mexican president spoke with US President Biden last week to address illegal immigration ahead of Blinken’s visit Wednesday.

Accompanying Blinken on the crucial trip will be Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and a Homeland adviser, Liz Sherwood-Randall.

Obregon said   he is urging the Biden administration to ease up on restrictive US sanctions against the lefty governments of Cuba and Venezuela, where about 20% of the 617,865 migrants who US agents encountered at the border between October and November were from…

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE… (nypost.com)

 

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