Border Shelter in Juarez Nearly Empty as U.S. Asylum Access Vanishes: 'Trump's Rules Are Severe, and Migrant Arrivals Are Rare'

The Pan de Vida shelter in Ciudad Juarez, once home to as many as 400 migrants, now stands mostly empty, as a new piece from Border Report reveals. The slowdown in arrivals began last year after President Joe Biden made the CBP One app the only legal pathway to request asylum but the flow halted entirely in January, when Donald Trump returned to office.

Other migrant shelters across Juarez are experiencing similar declines as some families have returned to their home countries or moved to cities like Mexico City. Those still in Juarez face dwindling options.

"Trump's rules are severe, and migrant [arrivals] are rare," shelter director Ismael Martinez told Border Report, which toured the largely abandoned property this week. Only a few individuals remain: a young man on a swing, a Honduran washing dishes, and another man speaking on the phone.

Among them is Angel Andino, a 20-year-old from Honduras who waited almost a year for an appointment through CBP One that never came. "I feel impotence being so close (to the United States) and not being able to be on the other side and improve my life," he said. He fled gang threats and now seeks a Mexican work permit while holding out hope for safer conditions back home.

Another Honduran, Antonio Rodriguez, left Tegucigalpa after gang members began extorting his wages. He plans to stay in Mexico and send money to his daughter. "If one day I get the chance to cross the border, that would be good," he said.

Across the border region, worsening conditions in shelters are a growing concern. Aaron Morales of United Borders for Health revealed in another Border Report piece back in mid-March that many migrants are showing signs of malnourishment, dehydration and dental illnesses. The organization reached the conclusion after providing care for some 22,000 migrants at different shelters across Tijuana over the past year.

Of the 77 immigrants interviewed by Border Report back then, more than half reported medical or mental health issues, with 50% experiencing general mistreatment by facility staff. Additionally, 30% reported being subjected to racial or derogatory slurs, and 6% said they were victims of physical force.