Several thousand unlawful migrants, many from Venezuela, set out early the morning of June 6 from southern Mexico to reach the United States in time for the Summit of the Americas this week in Los Angeles, reported the Department of Homeland Security.

At least 6,000 people fled the border city of Tapachula, according to Reuters. The National Institute for Migration in Mexico did not provide a size estimate for the caravan and did not comment further on it.

Caravan organizer Luis Garcia Villagran told Reuters the group represents a diverse range of nationalities “fleeing hardship” in their home countries, including many Venezuelans.

“These are countries collapsing from poverty and violence,” Villagran said. “We strongly urge those who attend the summit … to look at what is happening, and what could happen even more often in Mexico if something is not done soon.”

U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to announce a regional migration pact later this week, according to Reuters.

While the federal government decides what to do with the unlawful migrant situation, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CPB) and the Texas Department of Health and Human Services have arrested and apprehended a group of 14 “runners” from Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico in a group of more than 50 migrants in the Rio Grande Valley, Fox News reported.

“Every single morning you’ve been seeing that this has been taking place and how border patrol’s been out here, trying to apprehend these groups, CPB Lieutenant Chris Olivares told Fox. “These are single adults. These are the runners. These are not your asylum seekers.”

CPB announced that 410,460 Southwest Border Single Adult Encounters have been reported by March 2022, a 209% increase from March 2021.

In the Rio Grande Valley sector, that percentage skyrockets to a 489% increase as encounters to date in 2022 — with a total of 52,139, as opposed to 8,853 at that point last year.

“But when we talk about, you know, as far as the federal government and what they are not doing to address the current border situation, we talk about progress, there hasn’t been any progress made,” Olivares told Fox.

“We’re 15 months into this crisis and nothing has been done on their [the federal government’s] part. It is very important that they do visit the border and actually talk to these border agents, talk to local officials, and hear firsthand what is taking place.”