Hours before Trump’s inauguration, 1,500-strong migrant caravan departs from Chiapas

Just hours before Donald Trump was to be sworn in as the 47th president of the United States on Monday, a migrant caravan departed the southern Mexican border town of Tapachula, Chiapas, with the intention of reaching the United States.

Roughly 1,500 migrants departed Tapachula before dawn and trekked about 26 kilometers to the municipality of Huehuetan where they planned on resting for the day. 

Members of the caravan — the fourth such group to head north from the Guatemala border during the first three weeks of the year — told the newspaper Excelsior that they would resume their march north on Monday night.

By the time they resume their journey, Trump will likely have declared a national emergency at the U.S. southern border as part of the sweeping crackdown on immigration that he has promised to pursue.

Trump is expected to issue around 10 executive actions on his first day in office to start reshaping U.S. immigration and border policy, CBS News reported, including sending U.S. military troops to the southern border with Mexico.

The groundbreaking CBP One mobile app that allowed noncitizens to schedule appointments with U.S. Customs and Border Protection has reportedly been discontinued by the incoming administration.

The Trump administration has shut down the CBP One phone app for migrants. The Biden-era process allowed nearly 1 million migrants to enter the U.S. at legal border crossings.

Reporting from my colleague @camiloreports https://t.co/QoohkOpiZb

— Cristina Corujo (@cristina_corujo) January 20, 2025

Several migrants told the newspaper El Diario del Sur that nothing would deter them from trying to cross into the United States.

“We are not afraid of Donald Trump’s threats … because God is with us,” said Luis, a migrant from Honduras.

Another migrant, Jesús from Venezuela, said they are determined to overcome all obstacles.

“Regardless of Trump’s warnings, migrants don’t want to be stuck in Tapachula,” he told the newspaper El Diario del Sur. “We’ve asked [Mexico’s] National Migration Institute (INM) for the necessary documents to allow us to travel north where we’ll try to cross into the United States.”

Even before migrants reach the U.S. border, they’ll face challenges from Mexican authorities who have begun clamping down on migrants headed toward the U.S. border.

A new migrant policy referred to as “dispersion and exhaustion” has seen Mexican immigration authorities offer exhausted migrants who have been walking for several weeks bus tickets to cities farther north. However, they are then dispersed at various cities not located along the traditional migrant route where they are often unable to get proper documents to continue their travels to the U.S. border.

With reports from Excelsior, Diario del Sur, CBS News and Vida Nueva