Migration surges at US-Mexico border ahead of inauguration
Many migrants at the US-Mexico border are taking their chances at an undocumented crossing before the Trump administration comes into office on Jan. 20. The Real News reports from Tijuana, where thousands of migrants living in tents face daily humiliations and threats while waiting months for an opportunity to cross legally. The current crisis is the result of the prior Trump and Biden administration’s attacks on the asylum system, which has left thousands of refugees stranded along the border waiting on a system advocates say has been intentionally throttled.
Producer: Souleyman Messalti
Videographer: Carlo Echegoyen
Video Editor: Souleyman Messalti
Transcript
Katerine, displaced person from Honduras: There was no way to stay in Honduras. My whole family had to flee. But it’s really tough here too, because migrants are often kidnapped, so we can’t even stay safely. Trump doesn’t want migrants because he thinks we’re all bad people who will steal and cause trouble.
Souleyman Messalti (Narrator): On November 6, 2024, Donald Trump was declared president-elect, securing a return to the White House for a second term. With his inauguration set on January 20, millions of migrants remain stranded at the US-Mexico border, caught in limbo within an already broken system.
Nicole Ramos, Lawyer and Director of ‘Al Otro Lado’: My name is Nicole Ramos. I’m an attorney and director of this project. Welcome.
I have been in Tijuana since President Obama was the president, and it has been a steady progression of policies, beginning with him, that have attempted to restrict access to the asylum process, the port of entry, and to criminalize asylum seekers for trying to access that legal system.
It has gotten progressively worse with each administration. We have noticed the anxiety levels for asylum seekers increase progressively throughout the election, and they’ve definitely increased after the election of Trump because, you know, he’s espousing a lot of really dramatic plans—mass deportation, closing the border, canceling the platform CBP One.
CBP One is a smartphone platform that folks can use to schedule or attempt to schedule their asylum processing appointment at the port of entry, which will be the beginning of the legal process for them. Many people are very concerned in this moment about what Trump will do when he gets into office, whether he will cancel CBP One, and people who have been waiting for so many months to get this appointment will ultimately not have that opportunity.
Hemir, Displaced person from Mexico: Right now, we’re just waiting, praying to God that when we open the app, we’ll find information. My husband and I are both registered in the app. We’ve requested another appointment, and with God’s help, we’ll have better luck tomorrow.
Every day, we open the app. Everyone here uses it—some for a month, others for ten months, and I’ve been at it for seven. If the app stops working, we’ll have no choice but to cross illegally. We just want to do things the right way, and it’s unfair they want to shut the border on us. People in shelters are here not by choice, but out of necessity.
Nicole Ramos, Lawyer and Director of ‘Al Otro Lado’: This appointment can take up to a year to obtain, leaving asylum seekers in a precarious situation at the border. There are limited services, not enough shelters, and they cannot work legally. Many arrive only to face life-threatening conditions, including a lack of medical care, threats from organized crime, and dangers from those they initially fled.
Katerine, displaced person from Honduras: I arrived on April 17 after the last of my brothers, the only man left, was killed. My four other brothers had already been murdered. Those of us still alive had no choice but to flee.
Souleyman Messalti (Narrator): On their journey to the southern border, Katerine’s family was kidnapped and abused. Once in Mexico, they were tricked into believing that registering on the CBP One app required a payment when, in reality, it’s completely free.
Katerine, displaced person from Honduras: We heard about the CBP One app and scheduling appointments, and a man told us he could help us create an account since we had no idea how to do it. But then he made us work because we had run out of money and couldn’t pay him. We had to work in exchange for his help. My sister and I ended up working in a bar.
Thank God nothing happened to the kids, because these people exploit women, forcing them into prostitution to pay for their services. Now we don’t know what to do. It’s been three or four months since we started trying to get an appointment, but we’re just not getting it. We are lost. Every day is a struggle, because as foreigners, we’re easy targets.
Nicole Ramos, Lawyer and Director of ‘Al Otro Lado’: They don’t have a lot of political power. And so forcing people to wait, puts them in these really dangerous situations where they’re being exploited and potentially can lose their lives.
Souleyman Messalti (Narrator): While the CBP One app is the main legal way into the U.S., many face delays, technical issues, and misinformation. Other options, like humanitarian parole and family reunification, are rare and hard to access.
Nicole Ramos, Lawyer and Director of ‘Al Otro Lado’: They want to enter the country with permission. They want their day in court. They don’t want to enter through the desert and maybe lose their lives in the attempt. But with the anxiety over the election result and what Trump will do, some asylum seekers may choose to enter through the desert, because like any human being, they are trying to save their lives and the lives of their children. What they are doing is what any one of us would do if we were in their position.
Hemir, Displaced person from Mexico: When President Trump won, many of us cried because we felt like the doors to legally entering the United States were being closed on us. What Mr. Trump is forcing us to do is enter illegally. Why? Because he’s shutting us out.
Souleyman Messalti (Narrator): With Trump’s imminent return to power, millions of migrants face a critical decision: risk violence, dangerous journeys, and the threat of detention and deportation by crossing illegally, or wait under an administration promising even harsher immigration policies.
Hemir, Displaced person from Mexico: Mothers with small children hold onto them tightly so they don’t hurt themselves with the tables.
Politicians have no idea what we endure. We migrants wish they could experience, even for a day, what we go through. Let’s see what they’d say then, because they only see things from above. If they walked in our shoes, they’d understand better.
Katerine, displaced person from Honduras: Migrants are judged unfairly, labeled as criminals when we’re not. We’re not here to steal or cause trouble. All we ask for is a chance.
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