Joe Biden handed out millions of "catch and release" tickets like candy at Halloween.
Now a 600-person caravan named “Faith and Hope” is marching north through Mexico.
DHS just sent the Faith and Hope caravan one message that ended the conversation before it even started.
The Border They Are Walking Into Is Not Biden's Border
The caravan calling itself Fe y Esperanza – Faith and Hope – departed San Pedro Sula, Honduras on September 20 and crossed into Mexico four days later.
It started at 300 people.
By the time it camped in Tapachula's Bicentenario park, it had doubled.
Migrants stranded in southern Mexico – Salvadorans, Guatemalans, Ecuadoreans, Haitians – kept joining because they had nowhere else to go.
One Honduran migrant, José Zelaya, told the Spanish-language EFE news agency he was traveling with seven relatives and wanted to reach the United States.
He said the group had no organized leadership – just "hunger and need."
That may be true.
But the timing is not an accident.
The caravan launched six weeks before the 2026 midterm elections – where Democrats are desperate to flip the Senate and House.
This is not the first time a caravan has materialized on an election calendar.
A Rice University Baker Institute study tracked 30 caravans between 2017 and the end of 2022 – rising from one in 2017 to 14 in 2022.
A 2,000-person caravan moved on the border ahead of the 2024 elections – and migrants told the Associated Press directly they wanted to cross before November in case Trump shut it down.
A 7,000-person caravan made international headlines five weeks before the 2018 midterms.
Thirty caravans in five years, clustered around every election cycle, and they want you to believe the timing is hunger talking.
DHS Is Not Playing Biden's Game
DHS dropped a statement to Fox News on September 28 that did not bother with diplomatic language.
"The United States Border Patrol is actively tracking a migrant caravan which departed San Pedro Sula, Honduras on September 20, 2026," DHS wrote.
Then came the part they needed to hear.
"USBP reminds migrants that under the leadership of President Trump and Homeland Secretary Mullin, the border has remained closed and secured for the last 16 months," DHS wrote.
The White House backed it up immediately.
Senior deputy press secretary Lauren Bis told Newsweek: "The message to the caravan is you will not be allowed into our country. Our border is closed to lawbreakers."
She added: "Any illegal aliens who pay cartels to smuggle them into the United States should expect the same outcome: arrest, prosecution where appropriate, and immediate deportation."
That is not Biden talking.
Border crossings have collapsed 94 percent since Trump took office – from over 124,000 monthly encounters in Biden's final weeks to 8,870 apprehensions in August 2026.
Secretary Mullin made it plain during his August border tour in Brownsville: "We have the MOST SECURE border in history, 15 straight months of ZERO illegal aliens released into our nation."
The caravan is marching toward a locked door.
They Are Betting on Democrats Winning in November
Border researcher Todd Bensman said publicly he is skeptical that this caravan even reaches the U.S. border.
He is probably right.
But that is not entirely the point.
These caravans have always served a dual purpose – they push migrants north and they push a political narrative into American living rooms before voting starts.
In 2018, the 7,000-person caravan became the defining visual of the midterm campaign.
This caravan is operating on the same logic – that a Democrat wave in November might crack the door back open.
https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/2104723657167634877?s=20
They are wrong.
The Supreme Court cleared the way for DHS to end protected status for 350,000 Haitians this past June.
The wall is going up at six miles per week.
The 30,965 Hondurans already deported in 2026 know what the welcome package looks like now.
Under Trump it is arrest, prosecution, and a flight home.
Faith and hope are not a border strategy.
DHS is watching every step they take, and the answer waiting for them at the end of the road has not changed in 16 months.
Sources:
- Louis Casiano and Bill Melugin, "DHS sends ominous warning as migrant caravan heads toward US-Mexico border from Honduras," Fox News, September 28, 2026.
- "Secretary Mullin Tours Border Wall, Meets Border Patrol Agents in Texas," Department of Homeland Security, August 5, 2026.
- "Migrant Caravan From Honduras Heads Toward US Border," Newsweek, September 29, 2026.
- "DHS Has Four Words for Migrant Caravan Headed to US," BizPacReview, September 29, 2026.
- "Just in Time for the Midterms, a Migrant Caravan Is Headed for the US Border," Townhall, September 28, 2026.
- "DHS Tracking Migrant Caravan Traveling from Honduras to U.S.," Tennessee Star, September 29, 2026.
- "Post-Election, Migrant Caravans and Other Border Threats Are Already Materializing," Federation for American Immigration Reform, November 7, 2024.
