President Donald Trump on Nov. 12 threatened to double tariffs on Mexico unless it stops U.S.-bound migrant caravans, after about 1,500 people began marching north.
“MEXICO MUST STOP THEM, NOW, and if they do not do so, the Tariffs on Mexico will be IMMEDIATELY DOUBLED,” Trump wrote in a Nov. 12 post on Truth Social.
The president linked the caravans to Republican setbacks in the midterm elections, in which Democrats won control of Congress.
“The INVASION of our Country is taking place again,” Trump wrote. “Huge CARAVANS are forming and beginning their illegal march through Mexico.”
A migrant caravan estimated by Mexican authorities to number about 1,500 people was walking northward on Nov. 11 through southern Mexico. The group set off on Nov. 10 from the city of Tapachula near Mexico’s border with Guatemala.
Some caravan participants said the Democratic election wins renewed their hopes of entering the United States and settling there permanently.
“There might be a light at the end of the tunnel, a way for us to get in,” said Cesar Sandoval, a 47-year-old Nicaraguan who was deported from the United States several months ago.
“We believe the Democrats will help us … with God’s help,” he said before the caravan, dubbed “God With Us,” departed.
Caravan participants initially aim to reach Mexico City to seek federal assistance and protection from detention while traveling north.
Trump said that the caravan will not be allowed to enter the United States illegally.
“They will not be accepted!” Trump wrote, adding that Mexico, Texas officials, U.S. Border Patrol, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement had been informed of his position.
“There will be no leniency!” he added.
The Trump administration has repeatedly warned that migrants traveling in caravans will not be allowed to cross the U.S.–Mexico border unlawfully.
Agents of Mexico’s National Migration Institute and a member of the National Guard stand at a checkpoint as migrant caravan participants seek to continue their journey toward the U.S.–Mexico border, in Tapachula, Mexico, on Nov. 10, 2026. (Damian Sanchez/Reuters)
“We will protect our borders—America is a nation, not an economic zone,” the department stated on social media.
That group, mostly Hondurans, had left Tapachula the previous day. Some participants also expressed hopes that the midterm elections—then several weeks away—would bring changes to U.S. immigration policy.
The U.S. Embassy in Honduras issued a similar warning on Oct. 18.
“Attempting to illegally cross the southern border of the United States of America will only lead to immediate detention and deportation,” it stated in an Oct. 18 post on X. “Don’t fall for false promises. Don’t risk your future.”
Despite the election-related optimism expressed by caravan participants, a change in control of Congress does not mean an immediate change to immigration enforcement.
“As long as Trump remains president, the deportations will not stop,” said Ivan Porraz, a researcher at the College of the Southern Border.
Trump said recently that U.S. immigration policy would remain unchanged and that there would be no amnesty for illegal immigrants.
His remarks followed an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes,” in which he suggested that Republicans and Democrats could work together on a deal to provide some illegal immigrants with a legal pathway to remain in the United States.
Troy Myers and Reuters contributed to this report.
