CIUDAD JUAREZ — Shortly after President Donald Trump took the oath of workplace Monday, Margelis Tinoco acquired the information she had been dreading all morning: Her afternoon appointment to enter america, made six months earlier, had been canceled.
Tears streamed down her face as she defined the scenario to her 23-year-old daughter in Colombia as her husband and 13-year-old son stood close by.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do with my life from this level ahead,” she advised her daughter. “I’ve no job. I’ve nothing.”
Tinoco and dozens of different migrants had arrived on the entrance to the worldwide bridge to El Paso at 4 a.m. Monday hoping to attend scheduled appointments made by way of CBP One. The cellular app, launched by the Biden administration, was a preferred on-line lottery system that set appointments for about 1,450 migrants a day at eight border crossings. Utilizing the app, 1 million individuals had entered the nation legally with eligibility to work.
Appointments had been honored for a bunch of migrants earlier Monday, earlier than Trump — who had promised to finish CBP One — delivered an inaugural deal with promising swift motion to “repel the invasion of the nation” and “full the restoration of America.”
Trump administration ends use of well-liked border-crossing app
“As commander in chief, I’ve no greater duty than to defend our nation from threats and invasions, and that’s precisely what I’m going to do. We are going to do it at a stage that no person has ever seen earlier than,” Trump stated.
On the U.S.-Mexico border separating El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, anxious, scared and confused migrants and migrant advocates have been awaiting particulars on Trump’s plan to start mass deportations on his first day in workplace.
Evelin Vásquez, 29 — watching over her three kids starting from 3 to 11 years outdated — was among the many migrants ready on the Paso del Norte worldwide bridge in Ciudad Juarez.
Vásquez additionally had a scheduled CBP One appointment, made two months in the past, that was canceled Monday afternoon. The information got here in an on-screen notification when she logged onto the CBP One app: “Present appointments by way of CBP One are not legitimate.”
Vásquez stated she and her kids fled harmful crime in Guatemala and hoped to hitch her husband who has been dwelling in California for 15 months.
With 3-year-old son Liam taking part in with a pigeon and asking for crackers, Vásquez stated she would stay on the border so long as potential however had no thought what to do subsequent.
“I’m heartbroken,” she stated in Spanish.
In El Paso, migrant advocates had been getting ready for the worst as the start of Trump’s second time period neared, stated Dylan Corbett, govt director of El Paso-based Hope Border Institute, a faith-based nonprofit that gives shelter to migrants.
With the variety of unlawful crossings having dramatically decreased in latest months, due partly to strict asylum limits imposed by Biden, a number of migrant shelters had closed as demand declined. Sacred Coronary heart Catholic Church, which had been sheltering migrants since September 2022, closed its shelter in October, in response to Border Report.
Corbett stated he feared the humanitarian and financial price of Trump’s promise to deport tens of millions of migrants who’re within the nation illegally.
“I don’t assume we must be nonchalant,” Corbett stated.
In Ciudad Juarez, Tinoco was considering what to do subsequent. She was unprepared for the bitter chilly snap, and the pores and skin on her fingers was dry and cracked from publicity to the 20-degree climate.
Missing cash for a lodge, she stated her household was prone to attempt a migrant shelter in Mexico. Returning to Colombia was out of the query due to the hazard from criminals, she stated.
“I don’t need to return to my nation,” Tinoco stated.
The journey to Ciudad Juarez, largely by foot, had taken months and included crossing the Darien Hole jungle in Panama en path to Mexico Metropolis. Mexico’s immigration officers caught them on a prepare headed to the U.S. border and despatched the household to the Mexican state of Tabasco, alongside the border with Guatemala, the place they began their journey anew.
All through 2024, Mexico despatched migrants caught headed for the U.S. again to southern Mexico, hoping they could surrender, the Related Press reported in June 2024.
Tinoco and her household didn’t surrender, however now they face a brand new roadblock.
“All the pieces that’s occurred to us, it’s actually unhappy,” she stated.
