About 1,600 asylum-seeking migrants are in a caravan that is currently in the early portion of a nearly 2,000-mile journey to the US border with Mexico, the United Nations Refugee Agency's (UNHCR) spokesperson Sibylla Brodzinsky told Sputnik
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th October, 2021) About 1,600 asylum-seeking migrants are in a caravan that is currently in the early portion of a nearly 2,000-mile journey to the US border with Mexico, the United Nations Refugee Agency's (UNHCR) spokesperson Sibylla Brodzinsky told Sputnik.
"Our estimates are of about 1,600 people," Brodzinsky said on Wednesday regarding the size of the migrant caravan. "Our understanding is that the principal purpose is to draw attention to delays in access to immigration documentation, as well as access to the asylum procedure - by this I mean delays in Mexico."
US media reported that the migrant caravan may be trying to reach the US border before the Trump-era Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) program is reinstated in mid-November. The MPP would require migrants to wait in Mexico while they wait for their asylum proceedings to process in the United States.
On Wednesday, the migrant caravan was near the Mexican town of Huixtla in the south of the country near the border with Guatemala.
Texas Department of Pubic Safety Press Secretary Ericka Miller told Sputnik they are monitoring the situation as it unfolds in order to make real-time decisions and will adjust operations as necessary.
Earlier this month, a US Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said the agency prepares for all possible situations based on movements of migrants and is ready to address any potential increase in migrant encounters.
Mexico's National Institute of Migration did not respond to Sputnik's request for comment.
A record 1.7 million illegal migrants were apprehended on the US southern border in fiscal year 2021, which is recorded from October to September.
