Migrant Caravan of 600 Sets Out From Southern Mexico Toward the US Border
MEXICO · MIGRATION
Key Facts
- —The country Mexico shares a border of about 3,100 km (1,950 miles) with the United States. It is the main land route north for migrants from Central America, South America and the Caribbean.
- —The background Migrants often walk together in large groups, called caravans, for safety. Recent caravans have broken up in Chiapas, Mexico’s southernmost state, after deals with immigration officials.
- —Why now Arrests at the US border are at their lowest in decades under President Donald Trump, yet migrants keep arriving at Mexico’s southern border and waiting there for papers.
- —What happened On the night of Sunday 27 September, a caravan of more than 600 people set off on foot from Tapachula, the main city on the Guatemalan border, the news agency EFE reported.
- —Who is who The group, called Faith and Hope, left Honduras on 20 September and reached Mexico with about 300 people. Migrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, Ecuador and Haiti joined in Tapachula.
- —What it means for you This is not a border surge: 600 people is about two days of current US Border Patrol arrests. Drivers on the Chiapas coast road may meet slow traffic.
- —Still open Whether Mexican officials let the group advance, or break it up as they did the last caravan earlier this month.
More than 600 migrants set out on foot from Tapachula, in Mexico’s southern state of Chiapas, on Sunday night. Most say they want to reach the United States.
The nearest US crossing is well over 1,500 km away by road, and the border is closed to almost all new arrivals. Mexico has also stopped similar groups within a few weeks.
Who is walking
The group calls itself Fe y Esperanza, Faith and Hope. It left San Pedro Sula, Honduras’s second city, on Sunday 20 September, and crossed Guatemala.
It entered Mexico on Thursday 24 September over the Rodolfo Robles bridge at Suchiate. Police and officers of the National Migration Institute (INM), Mexico’s immigration agency, escorted it, the local newspaper El Orbe reported.
The group then walked about 40 km in 12 hours to Tapachula, according to EFE. It camped in the city’s Bicentenario park.
It arrived with about 300 people, mostly Hondurans, and roughly doubled in size. Migrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, Ecuador and Haiti who were stranded in Tapachula joined it.
“I want to reach the United States,” José Zelaya, a Honduran travelling with seven relatives, told EFE. He said the group had no leaders “beyond hunger, need”.
An Ecuadorian, Vinicio Obonaga, told EFE he joined because his papers were delayed and there was no work. Leaving in a large group, he said, was the only way out of the city. He hopes to settle in Monterrey, in northern Mexico, rather than go on to the US.
Most of those interviewed by EFE cited economic hardship at home. One Honduran, Óscar Vanegas, said he had been deported seven months earlier and was trying again.
Honduras depends heavily on money sent home by migrants, as record remittances amid rising US deportations show.
They left Tapachula carrying their belongings in black plastic bags against the rain. The downpours came from Storm Rachel over Mexico’s Pacific coast, EFE said.
Why Tapachula is a bottleneck
Tapachula is the first large Mexican city north of the Guatemalan border. Many migrants wait there for asylum or transit papers, and EFE reported delays and a lack of work.
Walking out together offers safety in numbers. It also costs nothing, unlike paying a smuggler to move north.
What happened to the last caravan
The last big group, called Dreams Without Borders, left Tapachula on 20 August with about 600 people. It broke up in Arriaga, near the Oaxaca state line, on 8 September.
By then it had walked a little over 270 km, and only about half its members remained. The rest had dropped out, handed themselves in or gone on alone, the news site Meganoticias reported.
Those left accepted an INM offer of transport to Tuxtla Gutiérrez, the Chiapas state capital, to continue their paperwork. Migrants said they were promised a 30-day transit document, which officials have not confirmed.
Other caravans from the southern border also changed course or stopped after agreements with the immigration authorities, the same report said. Faith and Hope plans to head first for Oaxaca, the next state along the Pacific coast.
The US border today
US Border Patrol arrested 8,870 people along the border with Mexico in August, according to the Department of Homeland Security. That is 97 percent below the peak of December 2023.
It works out to fewer than 300 people a day along the entire border. The department says it has released none of those arrested into the United States for 16 months.
On that scale, the Faith and Hope caravan equals about two days of arrests. EFE said its members were setting out amid mass deportations and a tougher US migration policy.
What comes next
The group is walking north along the coastal highway through Chiapas, where heat, rain and blisters have slowed earlier caravans. The next test is whether the INM lets it continue or offers another deal.
The departure does not signal a new wave toward the US, nor any change in US or Mexican policy. The last caravan ended before it left Chiapas.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a migrant caravan?
It is a large group of migrants who walk together, usually from Central America through Mexico, for safety and to avoid paying smugglers. The groups are loosely organised and often shrink along the way.
How big is the new caravan and where is it?
The news agency EFE put it at more than 600 people when it left Tapachula, in Chiapas near the Guatemalan border, on the night of Sunday 27 September.
Will the caravan reach the US border?
It is unlikely to arrive as a group. The previous caravan broke up in Chiapas after about three weeks, when its members accepted an offer from Mexico’s immigration agency.
Sources: EFE via ABC Color, caravan of more than 600 leaves Tapachula, 27 September 2026, EFE via Info7, migrants leave Tapachula in caravan, 28 September 2026, Infobae with EFE, about 300 migrants enter Mexico, 25 September 2026, El Orbe, caravan crosses at Suchiate, 24 September 2026, Crónica, caravan pauses in Tapachula and heads for Oaxaca, 25 September 2026, Meganoticias, Dreams Without Borders caravan dissolves in Arriaga, 9 September 2026, US Department of Homeland Security, August enforcement figures (press release), 16 September 2026, YourNews, August Border Patrol apprehensions, 17 September 2026. All retrieved 28 September 2026.
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