Mexican Government Moves to Break Up Migrant Caravan

The Mexican government moved Monday evening to break up a migrant caravan that was moving through southern Mexico.

Immigration officials were registering the travelers, and providing suggestions that some could get humanitarian visas, while others would have to exit Mexico, The Washington Post reported.

The caravan, estimated to contain more than 1,000 migrants, is part of an annual caravan that is intended to raise awareness of the struggles that immigrants making the journey from Mexico to the U.S. face, the Post reported.

President Donald Trump sent a number of tweets criticizing the caravan starting Sunday. 

Most of the group is now in the town of Matias Romero Avendano in the state of Oaxaca. Caravan organizers, local officials, and other said that some of the group took a train to Veracruz, a neighboring state, but it is not if that group has dispersed, the Post reported.

Immigration officials were registering the Oaxaca group.

An official from Mexico's National Institute of Migration said Mexico plans to disperse the caravan by Wednesday, but some people such as pregnant women or those with disabilities would get humanitarian visas. The rest will be expected to exit Mexico within 10 days or apply for permission to stay for a month, BuzzFeed News reported.

A statement from Mexico's Interior Ministry said Monday that "under no circumstances does the government of Mexico promote irregular migration." The statement said that the caravan has taken place each year since 2010, and that 400 people in the group have already been deported, the Post reported.

Gina Garibo, one of the organizers of the volunteer group that organized the caravan, said that migrants would keep moving, but in smaller groups, BuzzFeed reported.

Trump sent a tweet Tuesday morning about the caravan, saying it "better be stopped."

• Migrant Caravan Raising Concerns in US Takes Break in Mexico
• Migrant Caravan Stops in Field in Southern Mexico