JUAREZ, Mexico — As Donald Trump took the oath of office , Margelis Tinoco knelt on the ground at the foot of the international bridge that crosses from Juarez, Mexico, to El Paso, Texas.
“Please, dear God have mercy on us,” she wept. “I came all this way, thought everything had been solved and now everything comes crumbling down.”
Almost as soon as Donald Trump became President Trump, the phone application that allows migrants appointments to seek asylum in the United States went down.
“Existing appointments scheduled through CBP One are no longer valid,” the phone flashed.
A few dozen migrants had already scored appointments. Some of them had waited almost a year in Mexico, applying every day for the chance to cross the border legally. And then, within minutes, their dream of making a new life in the U.S. was undone.
As Donald Trump, became President Trump the dreams of migrants who were in Juarez waiting for their appointments to seek asylum in the US came crashing down . pic.twitter.com/8jIhN00zTJ
— Eyder Peralta (@eyderp) January 20, 2025
“I don’t have any plans,” she said. “I Don’t have anywhere to live. How do I explain this to my child.”
Mexican authorities told the migrants they were no longer allowed to cross. “The last ones crossed at 5 am,” spokeswoman Nayareli Rivera said.
Some of the migrants walked back to their shelters, others just sat by the border fence in the cold, crying.
Copyright 2025 NPR
