By aapsky @Adobe Stock
Illegal migrants know their time is coming quickly to a close as every day brings nearer the inauguration of Donald Trump and the implementation of the successful border policies he had put in place during his first term in the White House. Santiago Perez reports in The Wall Street Journal that smugglers are urging migrants to rush to the border while Biden and Harris still control the government. He writes:
MEXICO CITY—From the dense jungle connecting Panama and Colombia to the banks of the Rio Grande, human smugglers are spreading a message to U.S.-bound migrants: Hurry up and sneak in before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
Trump’s second term is creating an incentive for migrants to try to reach U.S. soil before the Jan. 20 inauguration, because many anticipate the president-elect will dismantle legal pathways to entry. Those paths include a U.S. government app that allows people to apply for U.S. asylum while in Mexico and then cross legally when they have an appointment—a system created last year that some migrants think will be upended by Trump.
Beatriz Fuentes, who manages the Casa Fuente shelter for women and children in Mexico City, said her shelter began emptying out even before the election. “They were told to hurry up in case of a possible change,” she said.
While there is no evidence yet that a migration surge is materializing, people smugglers are using WhatsApp and social-media groups to tell immigrants it is now or never. Known as “coyotes” or “polleros,” the smugglers’ business model becomes more lucrative during migrant surges, and business slows down right after policy changes are implemented.
In southern Mexico near the Guatemala border, some 4,000 migrants formed three caravans last week and set out for the U.S., volunteers and Mexican officials said. But many of them dispersed after being quickly “hooked,” or lured, by human smugglers, said Luis Villagrán, a Mexican migrant advocate who organizes caravans in the city of Tapachula. Caravans offer safety in numbers for migrants, but are easy targets for authorities, while smugglers offer faster routes to the U.S.
“There were four WhatsApp groups in which hundreds of migrants coordinated their departure on U.S. election day. As soon as Trump’s victory became clear, messages spreading fear began to appear,” he said.
Near the Darién Gap, a strip of wilderness connecting Panama and Colombia, one smuggler told migrants in a WhatsApp group message seen by The Wall Street Journal that he expects more deportations under Trump, and wished them luck not getting caught trying to cross the U.S. border.
Gilbert Álvarez, a 19-year-old student from Venezuela’s northern Carabobo state, said he recently arrived in southern Mexico and wants to apply for asylum to settle in Texas where he has relatives. He said he would wait a couple of weeks to see if he gets a legal appointment to enter.
“If there’s no progress, I will just go to the northern border,” he said, adding that he wanted to get in before Trump took office.
Read more here.
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