After three-and-a-half years of record breaking illegal immigration over the southern border, yet another migrant caravan is heading towards the U.S.
With just 15 days left until the presidential elections, the large group of asylum seekers are taking a shot to see if they can get into the country ahead of a potentially major shift in border policies.
It is just the latest example of the widespread influence that the 2024 American elections will have on the world.
Approximately 2,000 migrants departed Mexico’s southern border to head to the U.S. with worries over what will happen after November’s election, according to the Associated Press.
Venezuelan migrant Josman Ramos told the AP: ‘Whoever wins should not close the doors to us, [they] should give us the support we need, because we are all really going through a bad time.’
If Vice President Kamala Harris wins, Americans are expecting more of the same open border policies.
Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump, if he wins a nonconsecutive term in 2024 would return to a more hawkish policy that would shut down the border and kickstart widespread deportations of those living in the U.S. illegally.
‘We will carry out the largest deportation of criminals in American history,’ Trump said during a September 18 rally in New York City – something he has said during many campaign speeches.
While many asylum seekers are fleeing oppressive governments and dangerous living conditions, they are heading for a country where most voters say they want more strict policies to keep out the flow of migrants over the southern border.
Both Harris and Trump have vowed to implement more strict policies – but Republicans think Harris would keep current lax laws in place.
‘Those who cross our borders unlawfully will be apprehended and removed and barred from re-entering for five years,’ the vice president said in her September 27 speech in the border swing state of Arizona.
Harris was appointed ‘border czar’ by President Joe Biden, but the VP has faced a lot of criticism over he handling of the crisis.
Since Biden took office, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has encountered roughly 8.5 million migrants seeking asylum or illegally crossing the southern border into the U.S.
Trump has made migration, illegal immigration and the crime committed by these individuals a centerpiece of his campaign ever since he first ran for president in 2016 and he is promising to restore order if he gets another term.
This comes even though CBP has reported the lowest numbers or border crossers since 2020 with just 54,000 apprehensions in September.