TUXTLA GUTIERREZ: A group of more than 1,000 Central American migrants has arrived in Mexico, hoping to eventually reach the United States after President Donald Trump’s Republican Party suffered a crushing midterm election defeat.
The chances they will make it across the US border are slim. Recent similar caravans were broken up by Mexican authorities before even leaving the state of Chiapas, a southern state bordering Guatemala.
The group arrived Sunday evening in Tapachula, just west of the border with Guatemala.
Some carried Honduran flags with placards bearing the words “Central American caravan” and religious messages. Others arrived with Guatemalan flags tied around their necks.
Misael Vazquez, a 25-year-old Honduran, told AFP that the Democrats’ victory in last week’s midterm elections gave him hope.
“It’s something beneficial for migrants,” Vazquez said.
“The only one who opposed migrants is Donald Trump,” said Pablo Garcia, 23, a construction worker who was also part of the caravan.
Trump and Republicans in Congress have taken a hard line against migrants, blocking them from crossing the southern border and deporting tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants living in the United States.
But the Republican Party lost its majority in Congress in last week’s elections, and also suffered major losses in the key border state of Texas.
The Democrats, who will take control of Congress in January, are perceived as being more lenient toward immigrants.
This is the third caravan of migrants from Central America since September.
But the farthest they got was about 250 kilometres into Mexico, a fraction of the way to the US border, after being rounded up immigration authorities, who issued them temporary residence documents.