Number of migrants at border plunges as Mexico helps US to stem flow

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico – Migrant shelters with plenty of empty beds. Soup kitchens with food to spare. Soldiers patrolling intersections where migrant families once begged for spare change.

In Ciudad Juarez and other Mexican cities along the border with the United States, the story is much the same: Instead of surging as elected officials and immigration advocates had warned, the number of migrants trying to enter the US has plummeted following

the expiration in May of a pandemic-era border restriction.

The unusual scenes of relative calm flow from a flurry of actions by the Biden administration, such as imposing stiffer penalties for illegal border crossings, to try to reverse an enormous jump in migrants trying to reach the US.

But it is also the result of tough steps Mexico has taken to discourage migrants from massing along the border, including transporting them to places deep in the country’s interior.

Mexico’s strategy reflects the country’s emergence as an enforcer of US migration policies, acting often in tandem while also taking its own steps to control the border, as its northern cities have struggled to house and feed large numbers of migrants.

The harsh conditions attracted a global spotlight following a devastating fire in March at a Juarez migrant detention centre that left dozens dead.

Underscoring the easing of pressure on border cities, the Mexican migration authorities in Juarez recently dismantled

a tent encampment set up after the deadly fire.

The site, which opened with 240 people in May, had only 80 people in July after many migrants scheduled appointments with US border officials at ports of entries through a mobile app created in 2023.

Ms Cristina Coronado, who operates a soup kitchen for migrants in the Roman Catholic cathedral in downtown Juarez, said shelters in the city were “semi-empty” after migrants were able to get appointments across the border or were taken by the Mexican authorities to other parts of the country.

Still, Ms Coronado and other migrant advocates warned that the lull may be short-lived as hundreds of migrants, largely from Venezuela, Haiti and Central America, continue streaming into southern Mexico on a daily basis from Guatemala with the goal of traveling north.

For now, the US authorities have registered a sharp drop in arrests of migrants for unlawful border crossings since the public health measure known as Title 42, which barred most people without legal status from entering the country, ended. NYTIMES