A caravan of hundreds of migrants is heading to the U.S. border, reportedly in an effort to make it to the besieged border before the November elections — due to their concerns that former President Trump would shut it down.
The caravan, with hundreds of migrants from dozens of countries, left from Mexico’s southern border and headed north on Sunday. It was the same day President Biden announced he would not seek re-election.
The Associated Press reported that some in the group said they wanted to make it to the border before November, getting in ahead of a possible Trump victory.
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"We are running the risk that permits (to cross the border) might be blocked," said Miguel Salazar, a migrant from El Salvador, told the outlet.
Specifically, he talked about the granting of appointments to be paroled into the U.S. via the CBP One app. The app was expanded for such a purpose under the Biden administration, which currently allows 1,000 migrants a day in using the app. Trump is expected to stop that program if elected.
Many such caravans break up long before they reach the U.S. border, with migrants going their own way and sometimes arriving at the border independently.
The U.S. saw record numbers of encounters in FY 2023 and 2022. Recently, numbers have dropped sharply by more than 50%, which the White House has put down to new restrictions put into place by President Biden in June.
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The administration has repeated its calls for additional funding and reforms from Congress to fix what it says is a "broken" immigration system.
"While the president’s action has led to significant results, it is clear that the only lasting solution to the challenges we are seeing on our border — the solution that would deliver additional authorities, resources and personnel that we need to secure our border — is through congressional action," a White House official said this month.
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However, Republicans have blamed the historic border crisis on the Biden administration, accusing it of rolling back successful Trump-era policies and adopting an "open border" strategy — a claim the Biden administration has denied.
The Republican National Convention last week featured a number of high-profile calls for additional border security and extra enforcement. Attendees were seen wielding signs saying "Mass Deportations Now!"
"The invasion at our southern border, we will stop it and we will stop it quickly," Trump said in his speech to the convention.
Meanwhile, a recent poll showed the number of Americans who want lower levels of immigration is the highest it has been since 2001.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
