Thousands of Central American migrants left a Mexico City shelter Thursday to resume their journey northward toward the U.S. border. The 2,400-strong caravan precedes a much larger group of asylum seekers south of the Mexican border that is heading to America for better economic opportunities.
Friday morning, 1,890 of them were seen boarding buses and semi trucks, courtesy of the state of Querétaro, Mexico.
“Each state seems to be providing buses and in this case, semi trucks to help them move forward,” Fox News’ Griff Jenkins reported. This group of migrants is headed toward Piedras Negras, a Mexican border town across the Rio Grande from Eagle Pass, Texas, according to Jenkins. They expect to arrive at the border within four or five days.
Newest Migrant Caravan Grows to More Than 12,000 Members https://t.co/PvM4Ojo3Y8
— Dan Bongino (@dbongino) January 28, 2019
Reportedly, the number of asylum seekers south of the Mexican border has reached over 12,000; some of them intend to pursue refugee status in Mexico.
The new policy of handing out humanitarian visas began on January 17 in response to the new caravan of primarily Honduran migrants who left their home country and headed towards the Mexican border on January 15. Officials originally estimated the caravan’s size at about 2,000. Mexico now claims the caravan’s population swelled to over 12,000 migrants, according to local media and Breitbart Texas sources.
12,000 migrants headed to US in possible largest caravan yet https://t.co/KTtAOg9z3a pic.twitter.com/D0lxuSvdHo
— RAY BAEZ (@raybae689) January 28, 2019
Honduran authorities identified a rape suspect as an organizer and promoter of the trip. Juan Carlos Molina, 26, was traveling with the caravan earlier this month, when “Honduran authorities realized he had an outstanding warrant for rape charges from 2015, and arrested him,” Fox News reported.
Another possible organizer is Bartolo Fuentes, a former Honduran lawmaker and longtime immigration advocate, who was a major force behind the caravan that left Honduras last October. Fuentes is still actively encouraging the caravans and “remains involved in at least facilitating them,” according to Fox News.
Central American migrants are also organized and encouraged by Pueblos Sin Fronteras (People Without Borders), a far-left, Soros-funded advocacy group that has locations in Honduras and elsewhere in Latin America as well as the United States.
In one incident that made headlines last year, some members of the advocacy group led a march in Tijuana that ended in a violent clash when some migrants tried to go over a U.S.-Mexico border fence into San Diego.
The Mexico News Daily quoted one migrant as saying: “Pueblos Sin Fronteras told us not to worry, that there was going to be transportation, that Mexico was going to open the gates so that we didn’t have to enter [the U.S.] illegally, via the river . . .”
“What was offered to the caravan of Honduran migrants was a trap . . . The people that brought us to this place, supposedly [caravan] leaders, took advantage of us, they used us in a horrific way, what they did to us has no name,” he added.
“We came with enthusiasm . . . encouraging those who didn’t want to keep going . . . but when we got here our dreams went to hell.”
Pueblos Sin Fronteras responded to the criticism online, calling it mean-spirited and unfounded.
President Trump on Thursday said he was sending troops to the border to handle the latest influx.
More troops being sent to the Southern Border to stop the attempted Invasion of Illegals, through large Caravans, into our Country. We have stopped the previous Caravans, and we will stop these also. With a Wall it would be soooo much easier and less expensive. Being Built!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 31, 2019
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