Thousands of migrants leave southern Mexico for the U.S. weeks ahead of presidential election
CBSOct 22
Migrant Caravan Heads North Ahead of US Election
Above: Migrants walk toward the US on a highway in Tapachula, Mexico, on Oct. 5, 2024. Image copyright: Stringer/Contributor/AFP via Getty Images
The Facts
A group of approximately 2K migrants departed from Mexico's southern border Sunday, aiming to reach the US.
This comes weeks before the Nov. 5 US presidential election, which has featured immigration as a contentious issue. Some migrants cited a lack of jobs in Mexico's south and a delay in asylum appointments in the US as inspiration for this latest trek.
The Spin
Republican narrative
Of course, these people are risking life and limb to reach the US before the election. The Biden administration's open-border policies, which have so greatly harmed the US, are attractive when compared to Trump's plans to protect the US from invasion and keep these unvetted migrants from illegally crossing the southern border. The US can't be the world's oasis at the expense of national security.
Democratic narrative
From day one of Trump's initial campaign for president — and maybe even before that — Republicans have used election season to drum up Americans' fears of an invading caravan in order to steer votes. As we've seen in the past, this is just one of the numerous distortions Republicans tell about immigration. Once the election passes, stories of caravans usually disappear.