Caravan dwindles as new one forms

TIJUANA, Mexico — The migrant caravan that was seized upon by U.S. President Donald Trump in the run-up to the 2018 midterm election has quietly dwindled to a few hundred people, with many having gone home to Central America or put down roots in Mexico.

Despite the hard-line immigration rhetoric by the Trump administration, however, many others — nearly half, according to U.S. Border Patrol arrest records — have sought to enter the U.S. illegally.

About 6,000 Central Americans reached Tijuana in November amid conflict on both sides of the border over their presence in this Mexican city across from San Diego.

As of Monday, fewer than 700 migrants remained at a former outdoor concert venue in Tijuana that the Mexican government set up as a shelter to house the immigrants.

Where have gone?

The U.S. Border Patrol has made about 2,600 caravan-related arrests in its San Diego sector, said spokesman Theron Francisco, indicating they all that nearly half have crossed into the U.S. illegally. Families are typically released with a notice to appear in immigration court.

Mexican officials say about 1,300 caravan members have returned to Central America. Mexico has issued humanitarian visas to about 2,900 others, many of whom are now working legally there with visas.

The diminished presence of the migrants in Tijuana came as hundreds of Hondurans left the violent city of San Pedro Sula this week in a new caravan hoping to reach the United States or Mexico.

News of this latest trek north came as Trump has been working to convince the American public that there is a “crisis” at the southern border to justify construction of his longpromised border wall.

Caravans have taken place over the years though on a smaller scale, organized to draw attention to migrants’ rights and usually not reaching the border. The ones that formed last year gained attention for their larger numbers and after Trump began seizing on them for political purposes.