2,000-Person Caravan Surges Past Mexican Riot Police Near Guatemala Border

Illegal immigrants from Central America and Haiti clash with National Guard members as they walk in a caravan headed to the Mexican capital to apply for asylum and refugee status, in Tapachula, in Chiapas state, Mexico, on Oct. 23, 2021. Jose Torres/Reuters

Thousands of illegal immigrants in a caravan broke through a barricade of Mexican police dressed in anti-riot gear on Oct. 23, driven to action by what they say are impossible conditions in the overcrowded southern Mexican border city of Tapachula.

Around 400 Mexican interior police attempted to form a blockade to stop a flood of more than 2,000 illegal immigrants as they attempted to leave the city, which lies on Mexico’s border with Guatemala.