• Up to 10,000 people set out from the Guatemalan border on the long journey north in record migrant caravan as Mexican security forces look on

• Comes as Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is hauled off Middle East duties for a crisis migrant summit with Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador

• An all-time record of 12,600 crossings were detected on Monday with the total figure for 2023 expected to top 2 million

The biggest migrant caravan for 18 months set off for the US from Mexico on Christmas Eve as border crossing records continue to tumble.

Around 10,000 people led by Mexican activist Luis Rey Garcia Villagran left the southern Mexican border town of Tapachula for the long march north as more of those already at the US border finished their journey this evening.

President Joe Biden has hauled Secretary of State Anthony Blinken away from the crisis in the Middle East for a summit with Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Wednesday, after US authorities recorded more than 242,000 migrants crossing in November alone.