Thousands Of Migrants Move North From Southern Mexico, Amid Concerns Over Potential US Asylum Restrictions

Multiple Mexican news outlets have revealed that thousands of migrants in caravans are moving north from southern Mexico, with more expected to leave this week, as people fear United States asylum may be restricted if Donald Trump becomes president again.

According to the news outlets in Chiapas, Oaxaca and Tlaxcala, the first caravan of 600 to 800 people left Tapachula on Oct. 5. Many migrants are also reportedly stuck in Chiapas, struggling to find work and facing hunger.

Recently, a group of 139 migrants were taken to an auditorium in San Cosme Xaloztoc after being removed from cargo trains, as per Border Report. This group, comprising 100 men, 23 women and 16 children, were from countries like Venezuela, Honduras and Haiti, and aimed to reach the U.S., with Mexican immigration officials promising not to stop them.

Another caravan of nearly 1,000 migrants departed Tapachula on Sunday. They said traveling in a caravan helped protect them from criminals and smugglers.

By this week, 150 of them had made it to Oaxaca. They are moving north, trying to get ahead of Trump's plan to close the U.S. border to illegal immigration if he becomes president again.

Trump has also promised to deport millions of undocumented migrants already in the U.S. The migrants told NVI Noticias in Oaxaca that applying for U.S. asylum through the CBP One app took too long.

Director of the Center for Human Dignity in Tapachula Luis Garcia Villagran said 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.

"The Hidalgo Central Park is full of migrants – a situation we had not seen in months. The concentration of people there is a clear reflection of the magnitude of the problem," Garcia told the Aqui Noticias news portal in Chiapas.

"A human 'knot' has formed in Tapachula because of the bureaucracy of (Mexico's) National Migration Institute. As we speak, 40,000 to 45,000 migrants, 30% from the Middle East and Africa, are stuck and trying to leave for the United States before the end of the year."