More than 15 people allegedly involved in planning or promoting recent migrant caravans headed toward the U.S. southern border could face visa restrictions, a State Department official said Thursday.
The individuals allegedly recruited, coordinated, and directed large groups of immigrants traveling through Central America and Mexico toward the United States with the intention of illegally entering the country, according to a statement from department spokesman Thomas Pigott.
Pigott said the Trump administration remains focused on protecting the borders, disrupting smugglers and “promoting accountability for those who seek to profit from illegal immigration.”
Any caravan organizers or participants who hold a visa or apply for one will face additional scrutiny, the department stated, adding that appropriate action could include refusing or revoking visas.
As of late October, a caravan of more than 600 migrants, mostly from Honduras, was moving north through southern Mexico after leaving Tapachula, near the Guatemalan border, on Oct. 20.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said there was “absolutely zero chance” they would be allowed to enter the United States. DHS said it would not allow anyone from the group, which includes young men and families with children and some pushing baby strollers, to cross the border and that anyone attempting to enter the United States illegally would be apprehended, prosecuted, and removed.
“We will protect our borders—America is a nation, not an economic zone,” DHS said.
The warning followed footage of migrants walking near Tapachula in Mexico’s southern state of Chiapas carrying a banner that read, “Faith and Hope, Emigrating is not a crime.”
A separate caravan that left San Pedro Sula, Honduras, on Sept. 20 had already crossed into Mexico by late September. DHS officials said they were tracking the group, estimated at about 300 people, and coordinating with partners as it headed toward the border.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said that Mexican authorities were helping to break up the group because they recognized it would create problems at the border, and that the United States had been monitoring it for some time.
The State Department’s Thursday announcement rests on a policy it established in March 2025.
At the time, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said countries along migration routes needed to deter people seeking to enter the United States illegally.
The policy applies to foreign government officials—including immigration, customs, airport, and port authority officials—and others believed to be knowingly facilitating illegal immigration, whether by failing to enforce existing laws or by creating policies that enable transit toward the southwest border.
It complements an earlier restriction, expanded in 2024, that covers private-sector actors who provide transportation or travel services designed primarily for people intending to enter the United States illegally.
The possible visa restrictions announced Thursday would stay in effect until those officials start enforcing existing laws and stop allowing people to transit toward the U.S. border, the department said. The restrictions may also apply to some family members.
The authority comes from Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows the secretary of state to bar entry to anyone whose presence “would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”
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