EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) — The humanitarian crisis that advocates on the border were fearing from the Trump administration’s promised mass deportations and the continued arrival of migrants seeking to enter the United States has not materialized.
A massive tent facility built in Juarez by the Mexican government to accommodate up to 2,500 migrants remains empty. Some of the largest church-run migrant shelters have seen occupancy drop by 20% in the past week as South and Central American families are having to decide whether to go back home or try to enter the United States illegally.
With no money left for a return trip, some migrants tell Border Report their peers are “self-deporting” by turning themselves in at the Rio Grande in hopes that the U.S. will fly them back to their home countries.
On this episode of Border Report Live, host Daniel Marin and Border Report correspondents Julian Resendiz, Salvador Rivera and Sandra Sanchez examine where the migrants are and why mass deportations and a rush to the U.S. border have not materialized.
Migrant shelters and centers on the U.S. side are also adjusting to the low numbers, even prompting some to close.
Officials with Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, which runs the Humanitarian Respite Center in Downtown McAllen, tell Border Report that the center is down to zero to three families per day. Catholic Charities of Dallas also laid off workers after the White House cut $1.5 million in funding from the federal refugee program.
Even as funding is being cut, Sister Norma Pimentel, the head of Catholic Charities RGV, said she is not using the money the agency already received.
The nonprofit Team Brownsville has closed its Welcome Center in Brownsville due to the sudden decrease in asylum-seekers.
Both organizations provide meals, toiletries and travel advice only to migrants released by federal officials.
“It’s affected what we do because we aren’t seeing anyone come across anymore,” said Kathy Harrington, a Team Brownsville board member.
The group will continue to assist migrants south of the border in Matamoros, Mexico, they tell Border Report.
Currently, only 250 migrants are at the Pumarejo shelter in that Mexican border town. The shelter, which can hold over 1,000 people, is run by the state and mostly has migrants from other countries, not Mexico.
Like in other border cities, Mexico is building a massive migrant tent facility near the Gateway International Bridge in Matamoros. Buses will also be on hand to transport deported migrants to Mexico City if they want.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Tuesday reported 29,116 illegal border crossings by U.S. Border Patrol along the Southwest border in January, down nearly 50% from 47,316 migrant encounters in December and down from 249,740 encounters in December 2023.
Just two years ago, 1,200 to 1,500 daily encounters overwhelmed Border Patrol agents in the El Paso Sector before CBP facilities released hundreds every day on a promise to show up to immigration court because of overcapacity.
Border agents are now apprehending between 70 to 80 migrants in the 264-mile stretch from Hudspeth County, Texas, to the New Mexico-Arizona state line, and CBP processing centers that once held up to 5,000 migrants today have fewer than 50.
Federal officials also told Border Report on Tuesday that none received a Notice to Appear, and everyone apprehended between ports of entry is immediately placed on Title 8 removal proceedings,
The January data does not reflect a full month of Trump administration changes toward asylum and border entries since Trump didn’t take office until Jan. 20.