Migrant Caravan Heading for the U.S. Shrinks in Half After Trump's Victory

The Biden administration is getting ready for a possible surge in border crossings over the next weeks as concern has increased among would-be immigrants around President-elect Donald Trump's promises of closing the border and conduct mass deportations.

In fact, NBC News reported on Thursday that Homeland Security had been preparing for the scenario for days, if not weeks, raising questions around everything from enough bed space in ICE detention to human resources on behalf of DHS.

However, Reuters reported about the possibility that many migrants will be indeed deterred from making the journey to the border altogether now that Trump has won the election: a migrant caravan of thousands traveling through Mexico with the hope of reaching the U.S. has shrunk to about half of its original size after Trump's electoral victory.

An official from Mexico's National Migration Institute told Reuters the caravan had dwindled to less than 1,600 people, down from 3,000 when it set out from the southern city of Tapachula on Election Day. The outlet also reported that around 100 people asked for help from authorities to return to the city in southern Mexico, yet it was unclear where the rest of the migrants who left the caravan are headed.

Some, like Venezuelan migrant Jeilimar, remain hopeful that her appointment to seek asylum via CBP One will come through before Trump assumes office. "With God's favor, I'll get that appointment," she said, as she traveled with her 6-year-old daughter. Trump promised during his campaign to end CBP One App if elected, calling it a 'phone App for smuggling illegals'.

Multiple Mexican news outlets revealed in early October that thousands of migrants in caravans were moving north from southern Mexico as people feared United States asylum may be restricted or outright shut down if Donald Trump becomes president again. However, Director of the Center for Human Dignity in Tapachula Luis Garcia Villagran said back then that thousands of migrants from different countries were stuck in Tapachula due to delays in getting travel permits from Mexico and the slow processing of the CBP One app in the U.S.