Trump closes the border, leaving migrants in Mexico with few options

As the panic worsened, two men tied the ladders together with ropes and placed them over the steel border wall separating Tijuana from Southern California.

“Hurry, hurry, keep moving!” – shouted the smugglers at the bottom of the stairs. A young Zimbabwean girl stood at the top and looked down with wide eyes, hesitating before taking her next step.

On Monday, when migrants in Mexico learned that President Trump had canceled all asylum appointments moments after taking office and intended to sign several executive orders closing the border, one group made a final, desperate and risky attempt to cross into the United States.

One by one, they climbed the wobbly structure, then slid down the other side. Those who succeeded helped capture women and children. But one of the women fell to the ground on her way down and lay down, sobbing in pain and holding her leg.

“We do it out of need, not because we want to, and that’s it,” said Carlos Porras, 39, of Peru, speaking from behind the fence bars. He also injured his ankle while jumping and was limping.

Moments later, Border Patrol officers approached the group and took them away.

The scene revealed the desperation of migrants who learned on Monday that the border was now effectively closed. Everyone was left to process their feelings, from confusion to despair.

“I feel angry, I feel sad, I feel everything,” said Katherine Romero, 36, a Venezuelan who had waited a year in Mexico City for her appointment Monday and worked various jobs to save up for a plane ticket to Tijuana. “I just can’t believe it.”

In a series of orders signed Monday evening, Mr. Trump effectively closed the country’s borders to migrants, part of a political salvo that included a national emergency declaration to deploy the military at the border and block asylum seekers broadly.

His administration shut down the CBP One app just minutes after Mr. Trump took the presidential oath earlier in the day. The app created by the Biden administration allows migrants to make appointments to enter the United States, but it has been a target of Republicans.

Program 1,450 people per day were allowed to make an appointment To apply to the port of entry and request asylum. More than 900,000 people entered the country using CBP One from its launch until the end of 2024.

At a migrant camp in Mexico City on Monday, Cristian Murillo Romero, a Venezuelan who arrived in Mexico more than a year ago, learned that Mr. Trump had terminated the CBP One program. He said he doesn’t know what that means for his Jan. 26 appointment in Calexico, California.

Then he opened his email. There was a message in English titled “CBP One Appointment Canceled” stating that current appointments were “no longer valid.”

“I want to cry,” Mr. Murilo Romero, 37, said. When it finally hit him later in the day, he did.

In Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, only one group of 100 people was allowed to cross into the United States for their early morning appointments. Then, just before 11 a.m., Mexican border officials said they received notification from their American counterparts: No more appointments would be accepted.

“I am in shock,” said John Flores Bonalt, 36, a Venezuelan who did not arrive for his 1 p.m. appointment. “This is unfair. We have been waiting to cross legally for a long time. It has been seven months in Mexico waiting for this appointment.

Jose Antonio Zucchetti, 40, said he left Honduras in September and waited five months in Mexico City before coming to Ciudad Juarez over the weekend “with a lot of hope” for his appointment, which was canceled Monday afternoon.

“I don’t have a place to stay,” he said, his voice cracking. “I have no family or acquaintances here. I am on the street.”

Allen Corpus Reporting from Tijuana and Emiliano Rodriguez Mega and Annie Curial From Mexico City.