Latest Migrant Caravan in Southern Mexico Begins to Dissolve

After a week of walking north from the border city of Tapachula, Chiapas, in southern Mexico, the latest migrant caravan hoping to escape the Mexico-Guatemala border region has been reduced from around 1,000 to about 700. The group is the second to depart the region this year, hoping to reach Mexico City and parts farther north, where jobs are more plentiful.

According to a report in La Jornada, the group of migrants who formed a caravan they call “David” has reached Pijijiapan, Chiapas, after walking 150 kilometers during the first week of their trek. The slightly more than 90-mile jaunt has taken its toll on some of the mostly Haitian migrants as temperatures remain consistently in the high nineties Fahrenheit.

According to La Jornada, the group has been reduced from 1,000 to 700 as many have opted to turn themselves in to Mexico’s National Migration Institute (INM) and face immediate return to Tapachula. Others have quit or chosen to continue the trek on their own.

The group will continue northward in Mexico after resting at its current location and will travel at night due to the region’s high temperatures, according to a municipal official. Some in the group have been in Tapachula for more than a year, hoping to receive formal refugee status in Mexico that will allow them to travel freely throughout the country.

As Breitbart Texas reported, the first caravan of the year was organized under the nickname “Genesis” in March. That caravan was quickly dissolved by Mexico’s INM before it could exit the border state of Chiapas in early April. Members of the current caravan “David” are similarly frustrated by the lack of employment and a backlogged asylum system in Mexico.

Migrants in Tapachula have long complained of a lack of employment opportunities, and when employment can be found, most say they are working for low wages and for long hours. The report cites estimates of approximately 75,000 foreign migrants stranded at Mexico’s southern border due to the hardening of immigration policies under the Trump administration.

Migrants in Mexico who have not been granted legal refugee status cannot work in factories or shops and are ineligible for Mexican government social security benefits. A lack of legal status also creates a situation that allows employers to exploit the migrants’ labor. The group of migrants has made claims that their applications for refugee status are being ignored by the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (COMAR) and the National Institute of Migration (INM).

The group of migrants in the “David” caravan will likely fail in their difficult attempt to cross the southern border region of Mexico. According to a report by the Associated Press (AP), 18 similar migrant caravans, including “David,” have attempted the journey since Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum took office in October 2024. None have successfully moved beyond the southern states of Chiapas or Oaxaca before being dismantled by authorities.

Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol.  Before his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @RandyClarkBBTX.