The Trump administration believes about 6,500 migrants are headed toward the United States through Mexico in two separate caravans, both of which are still several weeks away from reaching the U.S. border.
The first migrant caravan was reported to include as many as 7,000 people, but DHS now thinks it’s been cut in half. A second caravan on the border of Mexico and Guatemala is almost as big, according to DHS.
“DHS continues to track a large group of approximately 3,500 through Southern Mexico with the intent to reach the U.S. border,” a DHS official told the Washington Examiner. “DHS is also monitoring a second group of around 3,000 between Guatemala and Mexico.”
[Opinion: ‘Migrant caravan’ has no right to be here]
The DHS estimate of the first caravan is about the same as estimates that were being released Thursday by Mexico’s government. A late Thursday statement said the caravan now inside Mexico is made up of about 4,000 people.
Mexico said 2,934 people in that first caravan requested refugee status from Mexico, which helped thin out the group as it made its way toward the U.S. Another 927 people have sought repatriation, Mexico said.
Despite the reduced size of the first caravan, the Trump administration said this week it would send 5,200 members of the U.S. military to help U.S. border officials prevent a mass entry. President Trump has called the caravans an “invasion,” and he said Thursday he was working on a new policy that would require anyone seeking asylum to enter the U.S. through an official port of entry, instead of crossing the border illegally.
Reports late Thursday said two additional caravans were forming below Mexico’s southern border, each containing a few hundred people.
