New migrant caravan heading to US, increasing concerns about the spread of omicron COVID variant

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Homan: Omicron variant means 'now's the time' to close southern border

Fox News contributor and ICE former acting director Tom Homan on how the COVID-19 omicron variant can worsen the ongoing border crisis

A new migrant caravan has formed and is headed towards the U.S. border amid growing concerns over the heavily mutated COVID-19 omicron variant.

The caravan – which includes hundreds of migrants from Haiti, Central America and Venezuela – began making its way toward America on Friday from Tapachula, a city in Mexico near the Guatemalan border, according to a report from Reuters.

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Migrants coming into the U.S. are not required to show proof of vaccination. According to border patrol agents and data collected from border cities, there have been thousands of COVID-positive migrants who have been released into the country.

Fox News contributor and former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director Tom Homan joined Fox News Saturday to discuss the caravan and the threat that the new omicron variant poses for Americans.

"Now is the time to take Title 42 seriously and stop people from coming to the United States during this crisis," Homan said, adding that he's heard the Biden administration is processing "maybe up to 200 removals a day." 

Title 42 gives the administration the ability to bar people from entering the country during a health crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The Biden administration has continued the order, but has not been applying it to unaccompanied children or to most migrant families.

Homan said Biden should "take a page out of the Trump handbook" and strictly implement Title 42. 

"This has turned into a public health issue because of this COVID variant, because of the opioids coming across, because of the fentanyl coming across," Homan said, adding that the situation at the border is also "a national security issue."

CBP data showed 164,303 migrant encounters along the southern border in October, a rate that has skyrocketed since October 2020, when there were 71,929 apprehensions.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection patrolling in Nogales, Arizona. (Stephanie Bennett/Fox News)

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The migrants, who had been residing temporarily in Chiapas for a few months, formed the caravan after growing tired of living conditions and not receiving humanitarian visas which they claim had been promised by Mexican officials.

Several migrants in Tapachula were transferred to other areas of the country, however, hundreds were left behind and joined the caravan bound for America.

Migrants make their way to the U.S. border in October.

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The caravan is headed to Mapastepec, a Mexican town a little more than 60 miles away from Tapachula, to join another group of migrants.

Fox News' Michael Lee and Jon Brown contributed to this report.