The Trump administration, which took office January 20th, has drastically reduced the quantity of border crossers from Mexico to the United States.
In March of 2025 the Border Patrol caught 7,181 border crossers and that was a 95% decrease from the 137,473 detained in March of 2024.
As a result, the quantity of migrants in northern Mexico has greatly dropped.
An effective way to gauge this drop in the migrant population is to look at migrant shelters in Mexico.
An article on The World website has reported on the situation in the city of Tijuana, across the border from San Diego, California.
From The World: “Just across the border from San Diego, the Mexican city of Tijuana has long been a crossroads for migrants seeking a new life in the United States, with families filling local shelters, parks and hotels while they wait for a chance to cross the border. But in recent months, the migrant population across northern Mexico has drastically declined.“
The article quotes two directors of migrant shelters: “Pat Murphy of La Casa del Migrante and Albert Rivera, who runs another shelter.”
The occupancy rate of La Casa del Migrante went down 70% in just a few months. Murphy said that “[The migrants] stopped coming because they have no hope for asylum right now,”
Albert Rivera’s migrant shelter has the capacity to house 1,300 migrants. The article reports that “Just over a year ago, every corner of the space was packed, [Rivera] said, with tents filling the basketball court. Now, Rivera points to unused bunk beds and an industrial kitchen empty at meal time. Only 31 people are now sheltering there. Rivera said that many migrants who remain in Mexican border cities are among the most vulnerable, especially those targeted by organized crime and who, under normal circumstances, would qualify for asylum.”
Nor are the migrant shelters receiving hordes of deportees from the United States.
From The World: Many shelters in border cities were expecting to receive massive numbers of deportees from the US…The Mexican government, preparing for eventual mass deportations, launched the “Mexico te abraza” (“Mexico Embraces You”) program, and put together massive tents in a dozen cities along its northern border to provide food, shelter, medical services and psychological support to potential deportees. In Tijuana, the government rented the Flamingos Eventos hall with capacity to host 2,500 people. But only about 100 Mexicans are being deported to Tijuana every day, mostly people who just tried crossing the border and who find their way back to their home states. But shelters remain on alert, preparing for any shifts in migration patterns that may arise from evolving policies and global events.
Isn’t this a good thing for the migrant aid organizations? Now they don’t have to take care of so many people. But Rivera and Murphy are complaining.
From The World: “Organizations devoted to helping migrants on both sides of the border are also facing financial hardships. The Trump administration’s freeze on foreign aid has further strained resources, leading to the suspension of vital programs. ‘We lost about 40% of our budget thanks to all the cuts that Trump has made,’ Murphy said. ‘And we have just begun to tell people we can no longer afford to pay them.’ He said he hopes to keep the place operational with a skeleton staff because, despite the current lull, concerns loom over potential future surges.”
And, “Albert Rivera, the evangelical pastor, said that his shelter is also at risk of closing and he worries that future migrants or deportees could be left without the resources they need. Rivera, a US citizen, said he wants Trump to know that he voted for him. ‘I was hoping he could crack down on organized crime and human smugglers that control this area,’ he explained. But now, he said, he’s regretting it: ‘I didn’t vote for this.’ “
Murphy and Rivera have less money so support their shelters but at the same time they have fewer migrants to serve.
I guess they need to figure out how much they need each month and alert their donors.
In the big picture, not having hordes of migrants passing through Mexican border cities ought to be good for Mexico.