Jose Torres, Lizbeth Diaz

HUIXTLA Mexico (Reuters) – Hundreds of Central American and Caribbean migrants crossed Mexico on Wednesday to seek asylum at the U.S. Border. It is just one of many caravans trying to make it across Mexico in recent months.

With Customs and Border Protection (CBP), agents arresting or exiling more than 1.7 Million migrants in 12 months, the United States is witnessing record numbers of immigrants this year.

According to Reuters witnesses, the majority of those in caravan were young families. They gathered in Huixtla, a southern Mexican state in Chiapas, on Tuesday to receive medical attention and rest before continuing their journey north.

Arleth Chavez, a Guatemalan national who had been walking with the caravan for approximately 28 miles (45km) since the caravan left the south city of Tapachula on the weekend.

Chavez stated, “My feet feel burning from the blisters.” “I will go as far as God allows.”

Tapachula is a city near Mexico’s border with Guatemala that has been criticized by migrant workers. Thousands of migrants have fled the area in caravans, many including families from Haiti, this year to avoid the long asylum process.

The latest caravan members are aiming to travel to Mexico City where the asylum process may be quicker. Others aim to continue to the U.S. frontier.

Mexico is under US pressure to control migrants from reaching its borders.

Mexico’s Catholic Bishops Conference, which manages about one hundred shelters throughout the country, called on the authorities of the country to cease militarized immigration enforcement. This group stated that it has seen an increase in violations of human rights against transmigration migrants.

As the U.S. president Joe Biden faces increasing criticism over current high levels in migration amid violence and hunger in Central America, and other parts of the Caribbean, the caravan slows down movement through Mexico.

Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell lashed out at Biden on Tuesday over the “record breaking” number illegal immigrants detained along U.S./Mexico borders in the past year. He blamed the border for being “intentionally unstable.”