A large caravan of roughly 8,000 immigrants is heading across Mexico toward the United States’s southern border on Wednesday, the same day that U.S. officials are expected to ask Mexico for help with the border crisis.

The immigrants largely come from countries in Central America, Cuba, Haiti, and Venezuela and began their joint trek in the southern Mexican city of Tapachula on Christmas Eve. The caravan is in the Mexican state of Chiapas, according to the New York Times, roughly 1,000 miles south of the U.S. border.

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The caravan walks as Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and White House homeland security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall are expected to meet with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico City on Wednesday afternoon.

“Secretary Blinken will discuss unprecedented irregular migration in the Western Hemisphere and identify ways Mexico and the United States will address border security challenges, including actions to enable the reopening of key ports of entry across our shared border,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement last week.

Homeland Security officials have previously discussed several ways Mexico can help drive down the numbers at the U.S. border, which will be included in their requests at the meeting, according to CNN. These requests include moving immigrants south and controlling the railways they use to move north. But Mexico also has been overwhelmed by the flood of immigrants, with only limited resources.

Customs and Border Protection confirmed it was aware of the caravan but claimed that large caravans move slowly and often splinter before arriving at the U.S. border.

“CBP has taken significant steps to surge personnel and resources to impacted sectors and address the challenges we are experiencing across the southwest border,” a spokesperson for the agency told the Washington Examiner. “We are aware of recent reports of a migrant caravan that has materialized in Southern Mexico, as we do several times per year … CBP will continue to monitor developments in coordination with our foreign and interagency counterparts as we have with previous movements of migrants.”

Border security and immigration have been difficult spots for President Joe Biden this year as border authorities document the highest number of illegal crossings in U.S. history. Republicans in Congress also have emphasized the need for stricter border policies by refusing to supply more military aid to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan until a border security deal is reached.

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Liberal cities that are experiencing major influxes of immigrants, such as New York and Chicago, also have directed anger at the president over the crisis at the border.

The meeting also comes as more than 11,000 immigrants continue to wait in shelters and camps in Mexico to cross into the U.S., community leaders told CNN on Tuesday. Most of those immigrants are hoping to enter the country through legal pathways created under the Biden administration.

Original Location: Thousands of immigrants head toward border as Blinken and Mayorkas travel to Mexico for help

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