New Migrant Caravan Departs From Southern Mexico

Tuxtla Guti�rrez, Mexico, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Nov, 2021 ) :The latest caravan of migrants began a journey Thursday from southern Mexico northwards, the second such grouping in a month crossing through the country and potentially toward the US border.

The roughly 2,000 people, including children, from Central America, Haiti and Venezuela sought to link up with a previous contingent that departed the same city of Tapachula on October 23 but has stalled in southern Veracruz state.

The latest migrants, aiming to acquire documents that allow them to transit through Mexican territory, advanced along a coastal highway in southern Chiapas state and crossed a migration checkpoint without incident.

"The migrants are in high spirits, and we believe the authorities are not going to stop us," said activist Luis Garcia Villagrin, one of the organizers.

Several members of the earlier caravan, which now stands at about 800 people, have accepted documents providing them temporary residence in Mexico, although others plan to continue their way towards the United States.

The flow of undocumented migrants has surged with the inauguration of US President Joe Biden, who has taken a more humane approach to the border crisis than his predecessor Donald Trump.

The United States has recorded 1.7 million people entering illegally from Mexico between October 2020 and September 2021, an all-time high for the period.