A caravan of several hundred migrants is heading for the southern American border via Mexico, many of them hoping to enter the country illegally before the November presidential election, which could be won by former President Donald Trump.
The migrants hail from roughly a dozen nations. The group left on July 21 from the southern Mexican town of Ciudad Hidalgo, which is next to a river that marks Mexico’s border with Guatemala.
Some of the members of the group said they hoped to make it to the U.S. border before the election because they fear that if the 45th president regains the White House, he will immediately close the border.
“We are running the risk that permits (to cross the border) might be blocked,” said Miguel Salazar, a migrant from El Salvador.
He said he worried that a new Trump administration might stop granting appointments to illegal aliens through CBP One—an app used by asylum seekers to enter the United States by getting appointments at U.S. border posts, where they make their cases to officials.
The app only works once the migrants reach Mexico City or states in northern Mexico. “Everyone wants to use that route,” Mr. Salazar said.
The former president has committed to restoring every border policy implemented during his previous administration, including completing the border wall.
In fiscal year 2021, border patrol agents encountered 1.95 million illegal aliens, a number that rose to more than 3 million in fiscal year 2023. In the first nine months of fiscal 2024, there have been 2.42 million encounters.
Illegal Immigrant Surge
The Biden administration has taken steps recently to control the influx of illegal immigrants at the border. On June 4, President Biden announced an executive order that would shut down asylum requests at the southern border if the average number of daily encounters exceeds 2,500.The shutdown would be in effect until the average remains less than 1,500 for a week. Administration officials claimed the measure was the most aggressive unilateral move by the president.
“In June, the Border Patrol recorded 83,536 encounters between ports of entry, the lowest number since January 2021, and below the number of encounters between ports of entry in June 2019, the last comparable year prior to the pandemic,” the department said.
A similar proposal to shut down the border in case of high encounter numbers was proposed in Congress this year. The bill aimed to close the border if an average of 5,000 illegal immigrants were encountered per day.
However, most Republicans opposed the move. Rep. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) said that the legislation would end up “establishing a new minimum number of illegal immigrants who must be admitted each day.”
The Act prohibits the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) from accepting CBP One app as legal identification for illegal immigrants while boarding flights and at TSA security checkpoints.
