Migrant caravan of about 1,500 sets off from Tapachula, buoyed by U.S. election result
Illustration: Press Pass USAMore than 1,000 migrants were walking north through southern Mexico on Wednesday in a caravan that set off Tuesday from Tapachula, near the Guatemala border, buoyed by hopes that last week's Democratic victory in the U.S. midterm elections could open a path to live and work in the United States.
The group, estimated by a Chiapas state government source to number about 1,500 people including many families, set off Tuesday from Tapachula, a city that has long been a key transit point for migrants from Central America heading to the United States. With possessions in backpacks, parents carried small children in their arms, in strollers or on their shoulders. The migrants, mostly from Central America, hope the political shift in Washington could open pathways for them to live and work in the United States. The caravan has been dubbed "God With Us."
"There might be a light at the end of the tunnel, a way for us to get in," said caravan participant Cesar Sandoval, a 47-year-old Nicaraguan citizen who was deported from the United States a few months ago. "We believe the Democrats will help us... with God's help," he added before the group departed.
The migrants initially aim to reach Mexico City, more than 1,000 km (621 miles) away, to seek assistance from the Mexican federal government and protection from being detained while traveling toward the U.S. border. The journey to the capital is likely to take at least several weeks, and the migrants carried water in the hot temperatures typical of southern Mexico.
Due to U.S. entry restrictions and deportations, thousands of migrants have become stranded in Tapachula, where they report a scarcity of jobs, healthcare and schools. Such caravans are common, but many migrants saw new reason for optimism after last week's U.S. elections, in which Democrats won control of Congress as voters delivered a sharp rebuke to President Donald Trump and his agenda, which includes immigration policies that have increased raids and arrests across parts of the country.
Migrants said the group includes many victims of kidnapping or other crimes in Mexico, and they seek a chance to obtain asylum in the United States. "For 16 years, I have carried this nightmare in my head. I only ask that the President (Claudia Sheinbaum) be moved and allow us to move forward," said Billy Noe Martinez, a Honduran migrant who survived the 2010 massacre of 72 migrants in Tamaulipas. "I cannot return to my country because people there are looking for me to kill me, and the same is true in Mexico," he said, recalling that he witnessed fellow migrants being mutilated while still alive and women raped.
Despite the migrants' hopes to enter the U.S., analysts said potential U.S. policy changes are unlikely to be swift. "As long as Trump remains president, the deportations will not stop," said Ivan Porraz, a researcher at the College of the Southern Border (Ecosur), who warned that human smugglers could exploit migrants.
Separately on Tuesday, Mexican authorities blocked a smaller caravan of about 100 Central American migrants in Chiapas after they crossed the Suchiate River on the southern border with Guatemala, detaining about 40 people, according to AFP. It was the second attempted caravan crossing in three days, after a far larger group crossed the border on Sunday evening without encountering resistance and stopped in Tapachula to rest before resuming the journey.
Sources: Reuters, "Migrants trek north through Mexico, buoyed by US election result" (Nov. 11, 2026, full text verified); CNN, "US-bound migrants in Mexico hopeful after US midterm results — despite US warnings" (Nov. 11, 2026, video report verified); AFP, "Mexico works to block passage of US-bound migrant caravan" (Nov. 11, 2026, verified).
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