Trump Issues Warning to Mexico, Gina Hinojosa Over Border: ‘No Leniency’ - Newsweek
President Donald Trump issued a warning to Mexico and Texas Democrat Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa over reports of a migrant caravan heading toward the U.S. border, warning that there would be “no leniency.”
Hinojosa defeated Governor Greg Abbott in last week’s midterm elections, becoming the state’s first Latina governor and the first Democrat to hold the office since 1995.
“With the perceived loss by the Republicans in the Midterms - I WAS NOT ON THE BALLOT- the INVASION of our Country is taking place again,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday. “Huge CARAVANS are forming and beginning their illegal march through Mexico.”
The president appeared to be referring to reports that a caravan of around 1,500 migrants mostly from Central America had set off on foot through Mexico in the hopes that the Democrats’ success in midterm elections would mean a softening of Trump’s stringent border policies, Reuters reported.
Trump added that he warned Mexico to stop the caravan or face tariffs being doubled.
He said that Mexico, along with the “VERY LIBERAL NEW GOVERNOR OF TEXAS,” the U.S. Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had been informed of his warning.
Mexico has not responded to Trump’s latest comments, though Reuters reported that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is due to hold a press conference on Thursday morning.
Trump's response followed reports of an estimated 1,000-plus migrants setting off on foot from southern Mexico.
The group, dubbed “Dios con Nosotros,” meaning God With Us, set off on Tuesday from Tapachula, near Mexico's border with Guatemala, with the initial aim of reaching Mexico City to seek assistance from the Mexican government before traveling to the U.S. border, Reuters reported. The journey is likely to take several weeks.
"There might be a light at the end of the tunnel, a way for us to get in," caravan participant Cesar Sandoval, told the outlet.
Sandoval is a 47-year-old Nicaraguan citizen who was deported from the United States some months ago.
"We believe the Democrats will help us...with God’s help," he said.
Trump has made cracking down on illegal immigration a central aim of his presidency, pursuing mass deportations and stricter border enforcement.
Texas, which shares a 1,254-mile border with Mexico, has been a key partner in Trump's immigration crackdown under Abbott, meaning Hinojosa's election could mark a change in the state's approach to border enforcement. Abbott launched Operation Lone Star in 2021, deploying state police and National Guard troops to the border as part of his immigration crackdown.
Tackling the border issue will be a key challenge for Hinojosa, who will take office in January. She has supported border security and criticized former President Joe Biden’s lack of action on the border but has been critical of Trump's aggressive immigration enforcement.
“I want a secure border. But what is happening with these ICE raids is making us less secure, not more,” she previously said.
Hinojosa has also advocated for a pathway to legal status for law-abiding immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for many years.
Trump previously said that he expects Hinojosa to continue his approach to border security but warned that he would continue his own policies if she did not. Hinojosa’s ability to reverse any of Abbott's policies could anyway be constrained by the state Legislature.
In a flurry of posts on Truth Social on Thursday morning, Trump railed against the midterm results, which saw Democrats secure majorities in the Senate and the House.
He made multiple posts decrying “Massive Corruption and Crime” in Democratic-run cities and states, and complained that the Democrats' new majorities would make it harder for Republicans to pass legislation, calling the failure to act while they controlled the Senate “one of the greatest mistakes in the Political History of America.”
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Henry Holloway and Dave Siminoff.
