New U.S.-bound migrant caravan departs from Mexico

A new U.S.-bound caravan of about 2,500 migrants, mostly from Central America and Haiti, departed Thursday from the southern Mexican town of Tapachula, Chiapas, on the border with Guatemala, reported Xinhua.

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 U.S. border, organizers and migrants told local media.

An earlier caravan that departed Tapachula on Oct. 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.

Central America is seeing an unprecedented migrant exodus this year. Between January and August, Mexico reported more than 147,000 undocumented migrants, triple the number in 2020, according to figures from the Mexican government.