La Caminata del Migrante as a Social Movement: The Framing and Making of the October 2018 Migrant Caravan

In the fall of 2018, large groups of Central American undocumented migrants and asylum seekers arrived at the Mexico-Guatemala border to cross Mexico and arrive in the US. The first group left San Pedro Sula, Honduras on October 13, 2018. The group was called "La Caminata del Migrante." The event attracted attention from the local and international media, organizations, and civil society, given the size and composition of the group. This thesis aims to explore the formation and development of the October 2018 Migrant caravan from Honduras to the US, as previous migration movements from Central America have been characterized by individual or small-group clandestine migration.

This thesis first proposes the use of social movements literature to analyze the features of the caravan and conceptualizes it as a transnational social movement on the move. Seeking to analyze its formation, the thesis also explores the different frames that were employed to mobilize participants and bystanders, as well as to gain public support for the caravan, and the resonance they had on participants to show which frames resonated the most and the least. Finally, looking to understand how the caravan developed and endured from San Pedro Sula (Honduras) to Tijuana (Mexico), I look at the collective identity caravan members created in transit and argue that it was fundamental to achieve, at least, some of its goals.

Based on qualitative data collected during 2021-2022 using in-depth semi-structured interviews, informal talks, social media data, and the examination of secondary sources, I found that the caravan was planned and organized, as information about the movement circulated on social media weeks before its departure. Participants organized to meet at the bus station in San Pedro Sula (Honduras), and from there, they walked jointly to the US. The movement grew while in transit, partially in response to the frames that called participants to leave the country in groups by highlighting the advantages of migrating in a caravan. Social media enabled the emergence and enlargement of the movement, as images of migrants walking together were seen across the globe. The movement was horizontal and without a formal leader, having guides and coordinators setting the migratory route. The movement established two conflictual relationships at the local and international levels and used an innovative repertoire of contention. Participants constructed a collective identity in and through protest while the caravan was on the move and as they contested the racialized policies of exclusion states of the region had implemented.