They began their journey by foot from Tapachula, a city close to the Guatemalan border where hundreds of migrants are stuck because they lack the authorization to enter Mexico. Since Election Day on Nov. 5, human smugglers have been encouraging migrants to "hurry up and sneak in" before President-elect Donald Trump's Inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025, according to recent reports.
The trek from South America to the United States is not easy, since migrants face significant hurdles such as physical threats, extortion, and kidnapping by Mexican drug cartels that have become actively involved in human trafficking. The cartels charge migrants and smugglers fees in order to allow them to travel through their areas. Furthermore, criminal cartel gangs frequently kidnap migrants, put them in terrible conditions, or torture them until their relatives provide money for their release, as per the paper.
The greatest hurdle, however, is the distance, tiredness, and blistering heat: the nearest border crossing is Matamoros, which is located in Brownville, Texas, about 1,100 miles from Tapachula. This is the shortest, but also one of the most dangerous paths. The journey consists of 16 days of walking without breaks. Many of these migrants are traveling with their children.
The incoming Trump administration has vowed to take action to secure the US southern border on day one of President Trump taking office. This includes beginning the largest domestic deportation operations in US history, according to former acting ICE director Tom Homan, Trump's appointed Border Czar.
