Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum responded to President Donald Trump’s threat to double tariffs Thursday by insisting that no migrant caravan has reached the U.S. border since he returned to office.
Speaking at her morning news conference, Sheinbaum said Mexican authorities are warning migrants that heading north will not get them into the United States.
“We inform people who are in the caravan that it is very difficult to move to the United States; that if their goal is to reach the United States, they will not be able to achieve it because there is no such possibility,” Sheinbaum said. “If someone wants to stay in Mexico, under certain conditions they can, but the vast majority return to their home countries once they know they won’t be able to cross the Mexican border with the United States.”
Her response came hours after Trump demanded that Mexico stop migrant caravans moving through its territory or face an immediate doubling of tariffs.
Sheinbaum said one caravan that began with roughly 600 migrants in the southern state of Chiapas had largely dispersed. Mexican authorities were also speaking with a separate group of several hundred Hondurans, encouraging them to return home, according to The Associated Press.
Mexico’s National Migration Institute is maintaining contact with the groups with assistance from the National Guard, she said. Sheinbaum maintained that authorities respect migrants’ human rights and ruled out using repression to disperse them.
Trump had made clear earlier Thursday that the caravans would not be welcomed across the border.
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“Huge CARAVANS are forming and beginning their illegal march through Mexico. Many of the people in these Caravans are those that various countries don’t want — ‘Send them to America,’ they say — But they will not be accepted! MEXICO MUST STOP THEM, NOW, and if they do not do so, the Tariffs on Mexico will be IMMEDIATELY DOUBLED,” he wrote on Truth Social.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin reinforced the president’s warning.
“We will utilize all assets to make sure our borders are secure,” he wrote on social media Thursday. “This illegal migrant caravan will NOT be allowed to enter our country. Full stop.”
The exchange comes as Washington and Mexico negotiate over U.S. tariffs on Mexican goods, alongside a review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement that began in July. Those talks involve duties on steel, aluminum, trucks and tomatoes, among other products.
Trump has made border enforcement a priority since returning to the White House.
On Jan. 20, 2025, U.S. Customs and Border Protection eliminated the CBP One app’s appointment scheduling feature at eight southwest border crossings and canceled existing appointments.
Trump also signed an executive order that day suspending refugee admissions under the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, effective Jan. 27, 2025, with limited exceptions.
