Caravan of 6,000 migrants continues to make its way into the US – most heading towards El Paso: New video shows migrants on top of train in Mexico before illegally crossing border
Desperate migrants were seen clinging to the side of ‘The Beast’ train as it hurtled towards the US-Mexico border, part of a huge 6,000-strong caravan currently heading to America.
Film material of the crowded train showed it moving at breakneck speed through Chihuahua, Mexico, as several dozen additional migrants found a spot on the roof in hopes of continuing their journey to the border.
Much of the migrant caravan is expected to head toward El Paso, Texas, one of several border areas where thousands of asylum seekers pass through each month.
It comes as border agents reported an average of more than 9,600 migrant crossings per day in December, the highest number ever recorded. In November this number was 6,800, meaning that the border has seen more than 3,000 additional arrivals per day this month.
More than 6,000 migrants are making their way in a huge caravan towards the US-Mexico border, with officials raising alarm about the unsustainable number of border crossings this year
Migrants depart from Tapachula, Mexico, and head north toward the border. Many are said to be headed to El, Paso, Texas
Footage captures several large groups of migrants desperately clinging to a train, hoping to join the more than 9,600 migrants crossing the border every day this month
The 6,000 migrants in the caravan have been moving steadily toward America for weeks, following a similar route to the hundreds of thousands who traveled through difficult terrain before them.
Over Christmas, thousands of people spent the holiday season in shelters and camps in Chihuahua after the latest wave entered the area just days earlier.
This was reported by a Mexican news channel El Dario the Chihuahuathe day after Christmas, a camp called ‘El Alamillo’ – near the Alamillo train station – was already empty, as the flow of people continues to the next stage in Juarez.
The outlet also noted that a large amount of trash and discarded belongings were left scattered across the area as the migrants hurriedly left.
As the caravan moved north, the town of Jimenez, at the southern tip of Chihuahua, saw another 2,500 migrants on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, reports said KFOR.
With trains halted in many areas along the typical migrant route over Christmas, some told officials they had gotten off the train further south at Durango, Mexico, and walked five hours to Chihuahua to avoid taking the next step forward would miss.
The caravan began its trek through Mexico just days before US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken visited the city.
The United States temporarily closed several border crossings earlier this month, including two key rail bridges, to redeploy enforcement resources elsewhere across the border amid rising migrant numbers, a key issue in next year’s U.S. elections.
A migrant bows while awaiting Border Patrol transport at the U.S.-Mexico border near Lukeville, Arizona during Christmas
At Christmas, thousands of people spent the holiday season in shelters and camps. To stay warm, some see fires starting at a camp in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico on December 28
Migrants gather at the border wall after crossing the Rio Bravo River as a Border Patrol agent commands the group
But Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Thursday that both U.S. and Mexican officials agreed to keep the border crossings open.
“This agreement has been reached, the railway crossings and the border bridges are already being opened to normalize the situation,” Lopez Obrador told a morning news conference.
As anger grows in America over the relentless flow of migrants heading to the border, Mexican authorities have been accused of doing little to find a solution to the crisis.
When the 2,500 migrants arrived in Jimenez, the city’s mayor announced Facebook are proud to help the influx north, towards the border.
“Let us remember that the purpose of life is to serve, to show compassion and to be willing to help others,” said Mayor Marco Juarez Torres. ‘For example, we used the Manuel Gomez Morin Gym as a temporary shelter for the migrants who had recently arrived in our city.’
Although the number of migrants in the caravan is reported to be 6,000, there are fears that this will continue to grow significantly as Mexican residents join the group in hopes of entering America.
Officials have been warning for some time that resources are becoming increasingly scarce due to the continued number of migrants crossing
Migrants walk to a processing facility as directed by Border Patrol on the U.S.-Mexico border near Lukeville
Local media indicate that Juarez is the final destination for many because it provides access to El Paso, Texas.
While El Paso is struggling, it’s not alone: Two other border cities aren’t considered migrant hotspots while still setting records.
Lukeville, Arizona saw nearly 20,000 migrants cross the border illegally in just one week.
Eagle Pass, Texas, has also borne the brunt of the crisis, prompting billionaire Elon Musk to visit the town in September.
Musk was guided through the affected camps by Republican Congressman Tony Gonzales, an outspoken critic of Biden’s border policies. After the record crossings in December, he said the crisis is “historic.”
‘Yet more and more people are coming. And there are more people in the pipeline,” he said last week.
“Our entire southern border is being dismantled by the cartels. As massive migrant caravans move CBP personnel off the front lines, multiple Border Patrol checkpoints have been closed, allowing contraband and criminals to flow in without resistance,” Gonzales said in a statement.
“Commerce is slowly grinding to a halt, and our law enforcement officers are exhausted ahead of a demoralizing holiday season, forcing them to work overtime. If there was ever a time to sound the alarm, this would be it.
“In the interest of our national security, Washington must put politics aside and create policy solutions that solve this border crisis once and for all.”