DHS Warns as Honduran Migrant Caravan Heads Toward US-Mexico Border

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a pointed warning to a large migrant caravan that entered Mexico and was traveling north toward the U.S.-Mexico border.

“USBP is closely engaged with its international partners to monitor their movement and any additional developments,” DHS told Fox News. The agency added that, under President Trump and Homeland Secretary Mullin, the border has remained closed and secured for the past 16 months.

The caravan included hundreds of migrants as of Monday, most of them from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Ecuador and Haiti.

According to U.S. Border Patrol, the group left San Pedro Sula, Honduras, on Sept. 20.

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DHS warned migrants considering the trip to the southern border that the era of “catch and release” had ended, declaring that “Biden’s disastrous open border policy has been SEALED SHUT.”

“Anyone attempting to illegally enter the United States will be apprehended, prosecuted, and removed from the country,” DHS said.

News of the caravan emerged during a contentious midterm election cycle, as the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration remained a prominent issue for lawmakers and candidates on both sides of the political aisle.

Since taking office last year, President Donald Trump has ordered broad deportation efforts and expanded immigration enforcement nationwide while illegal immigration has remained at historically low levels.

Several migrants said they were making the journey in search of better economic prospects.

“I want to reach the United States,” Honduran migrant José Zelaya, who was traveling with seven relatives, told the Spanish-language EFE news agency, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Zelaya said the caravan did not have an organized leadership structure and that “hunger and need” were motivating its members to continue north.