A new migrant caravan is moving north through Mexico, and the Trump administration is not waiting to see what happens. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has made his message plain: this group is not getting in.
The caravan left San Pedro Sula, Honduras, on September 20 and has since crossed into Mexico. It numbers in the hundreds, and some reports put the count near 600. It is a small group compared with the enormous flows of the past, but the political message it sends is anything but small.
Migrants from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Ecuador and Haiti are reported to be in the group. Some accounts also mention Cubans. It has no organized leadership, and one observer described the driving forces as hunger and need.
Mullin, the former Oklahoma senator who now leads DHS, said the administration has been monitoring the caravan for quite some time. He said the Mexican government is also involved and assisting in its dispersion.
Then came the line that grabbed attention. Mullin said the United States would coordinate with the Department of Defense and DHS, and that the Coast Guard would be deployed. His message was that the caravan will not be allowed to enter illegally.
The Pentagon has not announced a deployment, and no troop numbers have been released. What Mullin has said is that the Defense Department is part of the coordination. That is a serious signal, but it is not yet a troop announcement.
Border Patrol said in a statement that it is closely engaged with international partners to monitor the caravan’s movement and any developments. It added that under President Trump and Secretary Mullin, the border has stayed closed and secured for 16 months.
Migrants were also told directly that the days of catch and release are over. DHS said anyone who attempts to enter illegally will be apprehended, prosecuted and removed.
The numbers back up the confidence. According to DHS, Border Patrol recorded 8,870 apprehensions on the southwest border in August, about 94 percent below the monthly average under the Biden administration.
More striking still is that DHS says Border Patrol released no migrants into the country that month. That extends a streak of zero releases to 16 consecutive months, a stark contrast to the scenes that dominated the border during the previous administration.
The journey itself is long. From Honduras to the American border is well over a thousand miles, and much of it runs through Mexico. That gives Mexican authorities ample opportunity to break up the group long before it reaches the Rio Grande.
