What border crisis? Mexican migrant shelters quiet before Trump

Migrants used to gather by the hundreds in camps in Ciudad Juarez, on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande, waiting for a chance to cross into the United States. But as President-elect Donald J. Trump prepares to take office on Monday, only a few people could be found last week on the once-crowded levees.

All that remained were extinguished fires, shoes, shirts and a discarded toothbrush.

One Mexican city after another has reported a similar situation along the border with the United States, where the number of migrants has steadily declined in recent months. This decline is largely due to tightened restrictions imposed by the Biden administration and Mexican and Panamanian officials aimed at deterring migration.

With President Biden under increasing pressure during his re-election campaign to limit migration flows, he issued last June Executive order Effectively prevent illegal immigrants from obtaining asylum. That month, US border officials recorded 83,532 illegal crossings, a significant decrease from the previous month’s 117,905.

Despite this decline, illegal crossings remain higher than they were during most of Trump’s first term, prompting calls by the new Trump administration, and even by Trump. some Democrats in Congress, for more Severe Restrictions on immigration to the United States.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Trump’s pick to run the Department of Homeland Security, told senators on Friday that she plans to reinstate a Trump-era policy that forces asylum seekers to remain in Mexico for the duration of their cases in the United States and reduce the temporary immigration relief for people from countries where… Suffering from disorders.

“Border security must remain a top priority,” Ms. Noem said.

Some Latin American officials reject this, arguing that tougher restrictions on both sides of the border have succeeded in stemming the crisis.

“The flow of migration from southern Mexico towards the border has declined in the past few months,” said Enrique Serrano Escobar, who leads the Chihuahua state office responsible for receiving migrants. “There is no crisis,” he said of Ciudad Juarez. “No problem.”

The quieter border these days contrasts with the recurring tragedies seen in recent years along the border, including family separation and conflict. Fire 2023 at a migrant detention facility in Ciudad Juarez, killing dozens.

Thousands of migrants are still trying to make their way north, even as authorities on both sides of the border tighten restrictions. But more generally, movement across the Darien Gap, the inhospitable land bridge connecting North and South America, and shelter capacity in U.S.-Mexico border cities like Ciudad Juarez and Matamoros, are indicators of how migration flows are declining.

“Normally, we have about 150 people,” said Lucio Torres, who has been supervising a shelter in Nuevo Laredo, across the Rio Grande, for three years. The shelter can accommodate 300 people. This week, the facility was housing just seven.

Mr. Serrano Escobar said migrant shelters run by the government and civic organizations in Ciudad Juárez, with capacity for about 3,000 migrants, are currently only 40 percent full. He added, “The city is calm.”

In november, More than 46 thousand people crossed the border illegally This is the lowest number during the Biden administration. The month of December witnessed more than 47,000 cases of illegal crossing. By comparison, in December 2023, illegal crossings exceeded a record high of about 250,000 people.

Mexican security forces said they detained more than 475,000 migrants in the last quarter of 2024. This represents a nearly 68 percent increase in detentions compared to the same period the previous year, according to government data.

Solceri Betty, 44, a Venezuelan teacher in Ciudad Juarez, said she suffers from tumors in her breasts and requires surgery. She said that her two sons, 10 and 17 years old, surrendered themselves to the American authorities seeking asylum about a week ago. She said she made an appointment with U.S. Customs and Border Protection in El Paso to file her asylum application on January 29.

She said she hopes her appointment will be respected under the Trump administration. “I’d rather not think otherwise about it, because it frustrates you more,” she said.

CBP One, the phone app Ms. Beatty used to make her appointment, allowed US immigration authorities to process nearly 44,000 migrants in December at ports of entry.

While the Biden administration created the app to incentivize migrants to avoid crossing into the country illegally, Ms. Noem, a nominee for the Department of Homeland Security, has said she will end use of the app, reflecting concerns among Republicans that it has been used to allow migrants into the United States. The country that should be banned from entering.

Similar to the tense calm seen in Ciudad Juarez, the Pumarejo shelter in Matamoros, which can hold 1,500 people, currently houses only 260 people, according to shelter officials. In Tijuana, three prominent shelters indicated they were only 50 percent full.

Shelters in Guatemala City are almost empty of migrants heading north, said Karina Lopez, a social worker at the city’s Casa del Migrante shelter. Several years ago, the shelter was struggling to care for more than 3,000 exhausted migrants with just over 100 beds. These numbers are unheard of today, Ms. Lopez said. That’s partly because people only stay a few hours in a rush to get to the border before the inauguration, she added.

Fear of violent crime and extortion is also believed to prevent some migrants from reaching shelters targeted by organized crime in Mexico. Instead of seeking refuge there, some choose to stay with acquaintances, in rented rooms or with smugglers as they try to make their way to the border, legally or illegally.

“I don’t care if the devil himself gets in my way, I’m moving forward,” said Juan Hernandez, a skilled worker from Honduras. Mr. Hernandez, 45, said he had lived in the United States for 23 years and had been deported five times. He arrived six months ago in Monterrey, a major industrial center in northeastern Mexico, after being deported to Honduras following his conviction in North Carolina for drunk driving.

He said he plans to cross the border again soon in an attempt to reunite with his two children, who live in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Right now, immigrants like Hernandez appear to be a minority. Not long ago, in the historic center of Guatemala City, the sidewalks were full of people begging for extra money or a meal for their children, many of them draped in the Venezuelan flag. This week, they were mostly absent.

In the Darien Gap, the number of migrants fell sharply after the Panamanian government imposed tougher restrictions to complement the Biden administration’s new asylum policies.

Two years ago, boats loaded with people trying to reach the jungle left every day from Nicocle, a Colombian beach town at the southern end of the jungle. Migrants often photographed boat trips and shared the images on social media, where they came to symbolize the last lives of the migrants. Moments of safety Before entering the perilous Darién Gap forest.

Now there are days when there are not enough migrants to fill a single boat. Instead, boats leave every two or three days and are not always full.

In August 2023, a record number of 80,000 migrants passed through the Darien River in one month. In December, just under 5,000 people passed through, according to Panamanian officials.

However, as Trump’s inauguration approached, smugglers continued to urge migrants to reach the border and avoid a potential crackdown. Those running the shelters say that some, fearing that this might be their last chance to reach the United States, have resorted to begging friends to lend them money or handing over their home bonds to smugglers as collateral.

One option offered by smugglers and referred to by migrants as the “VIP route” takes migrants from Guatemala to Cancun, Mexico, by land, and from Cancun to Ciudad Juárez by air using fake Mexican passports, according to Ms. Lopez, the social worker. . The price for a one-way trip on this route peaked at about $450 this week.

After the opening, the price drops to about $100.

He contributed to the preparation of the reports Annie Curial From Guatemala City; Julie Turkowitz From Bogotá, Colombia; Chantal Flores from Monterrey, Mexico; Idera Esprila From Matamoros, Mexico; Allen Corpus from Tijuana, Mexico; Emiliano Rodriguez Mega and Rocio Gallegos From Mexico City; and Hamid Al-Aziz From Washington.