Migrants were gathered 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, few people can be found on the once-bustling beaches last week.
All that was left were extinguished bonfires, discarded shoes, shirts and toothbrushes.
One Mexican city after another has reported a similar situation on the border with the United States, where the number of migrants has steadily declined in recent months. The decline was largely attributed to tighter restrictions imposed by the Biden administration and officials in Mexico and Panama to curb migration.
As President Biden faces increasing pressure during his re-election campaign to stem the flow of migration, he in June executive order effectively barring undocumented migrants from obtaining asylum. That month, US border officials recorded 83,532 illegal crossings, a decrease of 117,905 from the previous month.
Despite the decline, illegal crossings remain higher than during most of Mr. Trump's first term in office, fueling calls from the new Trump administration and even some of them Democrats in Congress, more so heavy Restrictions on immigration to the United States.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Mr. Trump's pick to lead the Department of Homeland Security, told senators on Friday that she plans to restore a Trump-era policy that forces asylum seekers to stay in Mexico for the duration of their stay in the United States. immigration assistance for people from countries experiencing unrest.
“Border security must remain a top priority,” Ms. Noem said.
Some officials in Latin America are pushing back, arguing that tighter restrictions on both sides of the border have helped stem the crisis.
“The flow of migration from southern Mexico to the border has decreased in the past few months,” said Enrique Serrano Escobar, head of the Chihuahua state office responsible for receiving migrants. “There is no crisis,” said Ciudad Juarez. “No problem.”
These days, the quieter border has been plagued by frequent tragedies along the border in recent years, including the separation of families and 2023 fire In a migrant detention center in Ciudad Juarez that killed dozens of people.
Although authorities on both sides of the border have tightened restrictions, thousands of migrants are still trying to make their way north. But overall, the Darien Gate, the inconvenient land bridge connecting North and South America, and asylum capacity in U.S.-Mexico border cities like Ciudad Juárez and Matamoros have become indicators of how the flow of migration has eased.
“Normally, we would have about 150 people,” said Lucio Torres, who has overseen a shelter in Nuevo Laredo along the Rio Grande for three years. The shelter has a capacity of 300 people. This week, the facility had just seven spots available.
Migrant shelters in Ciudad Juarez, run by the government and civil society organizations and intended for about 3,000 migrants, are currently only 40 percent full, Mr. Serrano Escobar said. “The city is quiet,” he said.
In November More than 46,000 people crossed the border illegally. The lowest number during the Biden administration. More than 47,000 illegal crossings were registered in December. For comparison, in December 2023, illegal crossings exceeded almost 250,000 records.
Mexican security forces said they detained more than 475,000 migrants in the last quarter of 2024. That's up nearly 68 percent from the same period a year ago, according to government data.
Solsiree Petit, 44, a Venezuelan teacher in Ciudad Juarez, said she had tumors on her breasts that required surgery. According to him, his 10- and 17-year-old sons surrendered to US authorities for asylum about a week ago. He said he had a meeting with US Customs and Border Protection in El Paso on January 29 to submit his asylum application.
He expressed hope that his appointment would still be honored by the Trump administration. “I'd rather not think about it any other way,” he said, “because it just makes you more depressed.”
The CBP One phone app Ms. Petit used to schedule her appointment allowed US immigration authorities to process about 44,000 migrants at ports of entry in December.
While the Biden administration created the program to deter migrants from entering the country illegally, Ms. Noem, the Homeland Security nominee, said she would stop using the program, echoing concerns among Republicans that it is being used to let migrants into the country. country to be banned from entering.
Similar to the strained calm seen in Ciudad Juárez, the Pumarejo shelter in Matamoros, which can accommodate 1,500 people, currently houses just 260 people, shelter officials said. Three prominent shelters in Tijuana indicated they were only 50 percent full.
Shelters in Guatemala City are also completely empty of migrants heading north, said Karina López, a social worker at the city's Casa del Migrante shelter. A few years ago, the shelter struggled to contain more than 3,000 weary migrants with just over 100 beds. Those numbers are unheard of today, Ms. Lopez said. That's partly because people only have a few hours left in the rush to get to the border before the inauguration, he said.
Fear of violent crime and extortion is also thought to keep some migrants away from safe havens targeted by organized crime in Mexico. Some choose to stay with acquaintances, rented rooms, or smugglers while trying to cross the border, legally or illegally, instead of seeking refuge there.
“I don't care if the devil himself is in my way, I'm going forward,” said Juan Hernández from Honduras. Mr. Hernández, 45, said he had lived in the United States for 23 years and had been deported five times. He arrived in Monterrey, a major industrial center in northeastern Mexico, after being deported to Honduras six months ago after a drunken driving conviction in North Carolina.
She said she plans to cross the border again soon to join her two children, who live in Raleigh, NC.
For now, migrants like Mr. Hernández are in the minority. Not long ago, the sidewalks in Guatemala City's historic center were full of people, many draped in Venezuelan flags, seeking spare change or food for their children. This week they were largely absent.
The number of migrants in the Darien Gap region has dropped sharply since Panama's government imposed tougher restrictions to complement the Biden administration's new asylum policy.
Two years ago, many people trying to get to the jungle left Necoclí, a Colombian beach town at the southern end of the jungle, every day. Migrants often took photos of the boat trips and shared images of their arrival on social media to symbolize the migrants' final journey. moments of safety before entering the dangerous Darien Gap jungle.
Now a days there are not enough migrants to fill a boat. Instead, the boats leave every two to three days and are not always full.
In August 2023, a record 80,000 migrants crossed the Darien River in one month. In December, less than 5,000 people crossed, according to Panamanian officials.
However, as Trump's inauguration approaches, smugglers continue to urge migrants to reach the border and avoid potential harassment. Asylum operators say, fearing this could be their last chance to get to the United States, some have resorted to begging friends for loans or handing over documents from their homes to smugglers as collateral.
According to social worker Ms. Lopez, an option offered by smugglers and called the “VIP route” by migrants takes migrants by land from Guatemala to Cancun, Mexico, and by air from Cancun to Ciudad Juarez, using fake Mexican passports. . The price of a one-way flight on this route reached about $450 this week.
After launch, the price drops to around $100.
Participated in the report Annie Correal From Guatemala City; Julie Turkewitz From Bogotá, Colombia; Chantal Flores Monterrey, Mexico; Edira Espriella Matamoros, Mexico; Aline Corpus Tijuana, Mexico; Emiliano Rodriguez Mega and Rocio Gallegos from Mexico City; and Hamed Aleaziz From Washington.