Migrant caravan pushes north as US officials head to Mexico

(Patria) - Thousands of migrants and asylum seekers slowly moved north through Mexico's southern state of Chiapas on Tuesday in a caravan hoping to reach the U.S. border, a day before top U.S. officials were scheduled to visit Mexico to discuss migration, Reuters reported.

On Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas will visit Mexico to meet with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

The officials will discuss "unprecedented irregular migration in the Western Hemisphere and identify ways Mexico and the United States will address border security challenges," according to a statement from State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.

The meeting comes a week after U.S. President Joe Biden spoke by phone with Lopez Obrador, during which the two leaders said more measures were needed at their shared border.

Migrants and asylum seekers are transiting through Mexico to the U.S. to escape violence,
economic hardship and the negative impacts of climate change, according to the United Nations.

The number crossing the dangerous Darien Gap, which spans parts of Colombia and Central America, has surpassed half a million this year, double last year's record.