Frustrated by the lack of employment and the backlogged asylum system in Mexico, a group of migrants in Tapachula is hoping to form a caravan and move farther north to areas with more economic opportunities. The migrants, mostly Cuban and Honduran nationals, hope that at least 500 will join the “Genesis” caravan for the trek into central Mexico.
According to a report in the Diario del Sur, the frustrated migrants are gathering in the Miguel Hidalgo central park in the city along the Mexico-Guatemala border to discuss and plan the exodus from the popular border crossing city, but thus far, a departure date has not been set. According to the report, the caravan is in the early planning stages, and at this point the group has not been able to enlist enough participants.
The migrants will follow past northward routes through the border state, with the intention of reaching the state of Oaxaca and continuing north within the country.
As reported by Breitbart Texas, a similar caravan of roughly 1,200 migrants began the long march from Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala in hopes of reaching Mexico’s capital city in October 2025. That group made clear they were frustrated with the slow-moving asylum process in Mexico and had no intention of seeking asylum in the United States. The group was later sent back to Tapachula, where the migrants were promised faster refugee processing.
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).
A report in La Jornada indicates that many in the group planning the exodus out of Tapachula complain of a lack of employment opportunities, and that when employment can be found, they say they work for low wages and long hours. The report cites estimates of approximately 75 thousand foreign migrants stranded at Mexico’s southern border due to the hardening of immigration policies under the Trump administration.
Many in the group are recent Cuban migrants deported from the United States, according to La Jornada.
Immediately upon taking office, President Trump pushed to discontinue programs such as CBP-One that allowed 1,400 migrants to enter the United States illegally each day at land border ports for the purpose of making an asylum claim. In addition, another parole program implemented under the Biden administration, known as the Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan (CHNV) program, which allowed 1,000 migrants daily from those countries to enter through airports in the United States, was also cancelled.
Border Patrol apprehensions at the southwest border have dropped to less than 10,000 per month since President Trump’s inauguration. The current rate of illegal alien apprehensions is on pace to remain under 100,000 during the current fiscal year. During the last fiscal year of the Biden administration, 1,530,523 illegal aliens were apprehended by the Border Patrol, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
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.
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