The "Stations of the Cross" migrant caravans have been held in southern Mexico for about 10 years. They began as short processions of migrants, some dressed in biblical garb and carrying crosses, as an Easter-season protest against the kidnappings, extortion, beatings and killings suffered by many Central American migrants as they cross Mexico.

The organized portions of the caravans usually don't proceed much farther north than the gulf coast state of Veracruz, while some migrants, moving as individuals or in smaller groups, often take buses or trucks from there to the U.S. border.