New US-bound migrant caravan departs from south Mexico

Mexico City, Nov 19 (IANS) A new US-bound caravan of about 2,500 migrants, mostly from Central America and Haiti, departed from the southern Mexican town of Tapachula, Chiapas, on the border with Guatemala.

After months of waiting in Tapachula for the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance to resolve their immigration procedures, the contingent set out once again for the US border, organisers and migrants told local media.

An earlier caravan that departed Tapachula on October 23 with about 4,000 people has reached Mexico's Gulf Coast state of Veracruz. More than 1,000 of the caravan's undocumented migrants have been issued permits by Mexican immigration authorities to remain in the country legally, Xinhua news agency reported.

Central America is seeing an unprecedented migrant exodus this year. Between January and August, Mexico reported more than 1,47,000 undocumented migrants, triple the number in 2020, according to figures from the Mexican government.