A radical change. Until a few weeks ago, the border between Mexico and the US was still littered with small, precarious settlements set up opposite the border wall. Here, migrants would spend their last nights on Mexican soil before illegally entering the US and seeking asylum from Border Patrol. Now, all that remains are the wide rolls of barbed wire.

"In February, there were still nearly 3,000 people camping here. It's hard to imagine when there are barely 10 of us today," said Luis (not wanting to give his last name), a Mexican who has been living in what remains of this encampment in the town of Matamoros, in the state of Tamaulipas, on the border with Texas, since November 2023.

Groupo Beta (Beta Group) – the Mexican agents who patrol the Rio Bravo by boat to rescue migrants – made the same observation. On Saturday, June 22, their airboat didn't slow down once during their daily inspection of the river: "It's very rare not to come across someone who's going to risk their life to cross to the other side. But since the beginning of June, the migrants seem to have evaporated. Donald Trump would be happy to see that!" said Saul Villareal who has been scanning this border river for eight years.

A central issue of the American campaign

The American presidential election is having a direct impact on the departure of migrants, an issue that has become central to the campaign. Reacting to accusations of laxity from Republican candidate Donald Trump, President Joe Biden issued an executive order on June 4 to close the border once 2,500 people a day have illegally crossed the border for seven days. This is an extremely low number given the reality on the ground. According to the latest available statistics from the Border Patrol, over 10,000 people were crossing illegally every day in December 2023 to seek asylum, and over 5,000 in May.

The border, closed on June 5, has not reopened. To apply for asylum, it is now impossible for people to go to the border police and risk getting sent back to their own country and banned for five years. Instead, each individual must use the system set up by the Biden administration just over a year ago: a mobile application, CBP One, which stands for Customs and Border Protection.

This device was a request from migrant aid organizations, at the end of the "Title 42" legislation used by the Trump administration at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, and which until May 2023, allowed migrants to be immediately deported from the US without the need to examine their asylum claims.

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