The migrant caravan marching through Mexico to the U.S. border has grown to more than 14,000, one Mexican news outlet reports, and President Trump is readying a federal response if needed.
Although the group of migrants that set off from Honduras two weeks ago numbered about 2,000, the number has been growing in the last weeks, topping 14,000 now, El Universal reported.
The news outlet said that the new estimate of marchers comes from “municipal authorities,” the Catholic Diocese in the Mexican city of Tapachula, and the Mexican National Migration Institute.
“The first group walked for 37 kilometers from Ciudad Hidalgo to Tapachula on Sunday afternoon and was comprised by 5,333 children, women and men,” El Universal reported. Then 3,000 more men, women and children started “to walk under the rain.”
“Meanwhile, there are 3,000 children, women and men in the Ciudad Hidalgo International bridge, shared by Mexico and Guatemala, who are looking to enter Mexico with documents provided by the INM,” the news outlet said.
The caravan is still more than 1,000 miles away but there are reports that it is receiving aid and transportation from unknown sources.
Trump has warned that there will be consequences.
“Sadly, it looks like Mexico’s Police and Military are unable to stop the Caravan heading to the Southern Border of the United States. Criminals and unknown Middle Easterners are mixed in. I have alerted Border Patrol and Military that this is a National Emergy. Must change laws!” he wrote on Twitter.
And on Wednesday, he tweeted: “We are a great Sovereign Nation. We have Strong Borders and will never accept people coming into our Country illegally!”