The caravan of 7,000 illegal migrants we first mentioned on December 29 dissolved early in the new year after a promise by the Mexican government allegedly failed to be honored. Now, many members of that group have re-formed in a new 2,000-person caravan and have hit the road again.
The original caravan broke up last week upon receiving a promise from the Mexican government of travel permits that would allow them free transport through Mexico to the US border. After waiting a few days in shelters for permits that never came, many decided to carry on without the permits.
The group set off from the town of Arriaga in the southern state of Chiapas at dawn on Monday, carrying a banner that read “Exodus from poverty,” not an especially propitious motto since poverty is not a legal qualification for the asylum that most seek. Nevertheless, away they went, many chanting, in Spanish presumably, “We are not criminals. We are international workers.”
Caravans typically start out in southern Mexico, make a fuss to generate news, then gradually break up as individual members grow tired of walking and seek rides in cars, trucks, or the freight train called La Bestia, which runs from Mexico City up to Ciudad Juarez.
They will probably dissolve as a group somewhere, but for the moment, the caravanners are headed to you-know-where.
For more, see US News.