President Trump warned Mexico on Thursday that he will “IMMEDIATELY” double tariffs on Mexican goods if it does not stop a caravan of migrants walking north toward our southern border.
The caravan left Tapachula, in the Mexican state of Chiapas near the Guatemalan border, on Tuesday. Reuters put it at about 1,500 people, many of them families, and some told reporters plainly why they set out now. “We believe the Democrats will help us… with God’s help,” César Sandoval, a 47-year-old Nicaraguan who was deported from the United States earlier this year, told Reuters.
What the President said
Trump posted his warning to Truth Social early Thursday. “Here we go again!” he wrote. “With the perceived loss by the Republicans in the Midterms – I WAS NOT ON THE BALLOT – the INVASION of our Country is taking place again. Huge CARAVANS are forming and beginning their illegal march through Mexico.”
“MEXICO MUST STOP THEM, NOW, and if they do not do so, the Tariffs on Mexico will be IMMEDIATELY DOUBLED,” he wrote, adding that Mexico, the Border Patrol and ICE had been informed. “There will be no leniency!”
Mexico News Daily noted that the tariffs he could double include the Section 232 duties on Mexican steel, aluminum and vehicles, which Mexico is trying to reduce in trade talks.
The administration lines up behind him
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin shared the President’s post on X. “This illegal migrant caravan will NOT be allowed to enter our country. Full stop,” he wrote.
Border czar Tom Homan told Fox News on Wednesday that Mexico “needs to put troops on their southern border and northern border,” and pointed out that crossing Mexico without a transit visa breaks Mexico’s own law. “Congress may be more blue, Texas may be more blue, but the White House is red, bright red,” he said. “We’re not giving one inch on this border.”
In a later clip shared by the White House’s Rapid Response account, Homan said the migrants are “wasting their time” and that anyone who enters illegally will be “arrested,” “prosecuted,” “jailed” and then deported.
What Mexico says
President Claudia Sheinbaum answered at her Thursday morning press conference that “no migrant caravan has reached the northern border” since Trump began his second term. She said Mexico tells migrants they will not be able to get into the United States and helps them return home, and that her government would not use force against them.
According to Sheinbaum, a second, smaller caravan that formed in Arriaga, Chiapas, has shrunk to fewer than 100 people. W Radio reported the main group had reached Huixtla, about 25 miles north of Tapachula, and that about 80% of its members are from Honduras. Reuters said the group first plans to reach Mexico City, a trip likely to take weeks.
The bottom line
This caravan shows how last week’s election is being heard south of the border. Smugglers and the people who pay them follow American politics closely, and the migrants themselves told Reuters they expect Democrats to help them get in.
The President is right to answer quickly and in terms Mexico understands. Sheinbaum’s government deserves credit for the cooperation that has kept caravans away from the border, and stopping this one well short of it is the surest way for Mexico to avoid a tariff fight.
Congress changes hands in January, but border enforcement still runs through the executive branch. The incoming Democratic leaders should state plainly, now, that they will not try to reopen the border, so that nobody else sets out from Tapachula on that hope.