During Donald Trump’s presidency, his administration introduced controversial policies like “zero tolerance” and the Migrant Protection Protocols, known as “remain in Mexico”, to curb migration at the Southwest border. Most migrants cross into Texas. Here’s how the flow of people intersected with Trump’s policies.
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A surge of migrants arriving at the Texas-Mexico border has pushed the country’s immigration system to the breaking point as new policies aimed at both undocumented immigrants and legal asylum seekers have contributed to a humanitarian crisis. The Texas Tribune is maintaining its in-depth reporting on this national issue with support from the Pulitzer Center.
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Government watchdog: Millions wasted on Tornillo migrant detention facility
The Government Accountability Office found that the government spent $66 million in taxpayer money over five months to hold an average of 28 people per day at the tent encampment near El Paso.
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The number of migrant children in Texas shelters dropped dramatically in 2019
For the sixth month in a row, the number of migrant children in Texas shelters decreased in November.
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The Trump administration knew migrant children would suffer from family separations. The government ramped up the practice anyway.
Internal emails and reports illustrate a chaotic attempt to track traumatized migrant children seized from parents.
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1,000 migrants a day made this tiny Guatemala town a smuggler’s paradise. The business has dried up.
Two Trump administration initiatives have driven down traffic, locals say: the “remain in Mexico” program requiring people to wait out their asylum cases south of the border, and the threat to slap tariffs on Mexico unless it cracked down on migrants crossing through it.
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Watch: In a Guatemalan town where migrants cross, Trump’s policies have hit hard
In La Técnica, the boats used to zip migrants across the river into Mexico, as well as hotels, restaurants and money changers had a brisk business. But now business has dried up.
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Mexican border cities: too dangerous for Americans but safe enough for migrants, U.S. government says
The State Department has issued warnings advising against travel to Mexican border states and the president has considered labeling cartels as terrorist organizations. But Trump officials continue to downplay the violence in cities where “remain in Mexico” is in place.
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As government prepares to seize more land for a border wall, some Texas landowners prepare to fight
In Laredo, border landowners are receiving letters from the federal government, requesting permission to enter their land for surveying. “Hell no, we’re not signing anything,” one recipient said.
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A Trump administration strategy led to the child migrant backup crisis at the border
Interviews, emails and memos detailing the strategy show that officials knew that without enough beds in government shelters, children would languish in Border Patrol stations not equipped to care for them.
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Conditions deteriorating at makeshift camp on the Rio Grande where thousands await U.S. asylum
The camp began forming last summer in Matamoros, Mexico, and now an estimated 2,000 people, many of them children, live in squalid conditions as they wait weeks or months to request U.S. asylum.