Migrant caravan races to cross border before Trump takes office

Sources told NewsNation that the majority of the migrants in the group are from Venezuela, with the final destination being El Paso, Texas and Juarez, Mexico, which is located just miles from the border. Authorities have reportedly dubbed their effort to break up caravan groups "Operation Carousel" and are working to break up such groups and negotiate with them to travel to other Mexican states.

According to Border Report, a pastor who runs nearly a dozen shelters in northern Mexico said that over 2,000 migrants in Durango plan to head for the US soon. Television stations in Mexico have been reporting on footage of the hundreds of migrants racing towards the border.

There have been at least 10 groups, including the latest one, that have set out since October in pursuit of crossing the border. The prospect of Trump taking the White House has increased the pace at which some are trying to cross into the United States while President Joe Biden is still in power.

Luis Garcia Villagran, director of the Center for Human Dignity, told reporters, “There must be an agreement between the government of Mexico and the government of the United States to establish humanitarian policies in favor of all these people."

Amid the surge in migrants going towards the border, the shelters in the northern portions of Mexico are also starting to see more arrivals. Rev. Francisco Gonzalez told the outlet, “People at our shelters in Laguna and Gomez Palacio are expressing their intent to proceed to Piedras Negras, Nuevo Laredo and Ciudad Juarez."

“Our shelter network in Juarez is making preparations (to receive) those who will try to cross before Trump” takes office, Gonzalez added.

As Trump has been preparing to enter the White House, he has nominated Tom Homan to be the United States' border czar when it comes to clamping down on illegal immigration and border crossings. Homan has said that as Trump takes office, he will hold a weekly press conference to show who from the United States is getting deported, and has said his priorities for first illegal immigrants to be deported include those who are "public safety threats, national security threats, and fugitives."