ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
With a handful of executive actions, President Trump has quickly reshaped the U.S. immigration landscape. Many people who had hoped to enter the United States are now in limbo. NPR's Eyder Peralta is just across the southern border in Juarez, Mexico. Hello, Eyder.
EYDER PERALTA, BYLINE: Hey, Ari.
SHAPIRO: Eyder, tell us more about where you are and what you're seeing.
PERALTA: So, Ari, President Trump has declared a national emergency along this border and said that America's sovereignty is under attack. But as you can hear, it's quiet here. I'm standing at the foot of one of the bridges that leads to El Paso. And we drove up and down this fence – the border fence – and there are no migrants there. And there are two reasons for this. The most important reason is that President Trump inherits a very calm border. During his four years in office, President Biden tightened asylum rules and put pressure on Mexico to prevent migrants from reaching the border. And just before he left office, fears at the border were lower than when Trump first left office.
But it's also quiet because the migrants have no idea what to do. We were out today talking to migrants sitting in the park and on steps and they were confused. They are sad. They are desolate. And they just don't know what to do because yesterday Trump blocked the only real way to legally cross the United States, and that was this thing called the CBP One app. It allowed migrants to make appointments to cross the border and apply for asylum with U.S. authorities, but that is no longer the case.
SHAPIRO: And you were at the border yesterday when these first measures took effect. How did people react to that?
PERALTA: It was dramatic. Some migrants had waited nearly a year for an appointment, and a few dozen of them had an appointment shortly afterward – it was scheduled for shortly after the inauguration. They lined up, some starting as early as 5 a.m., in the hope that their appointments might be kept. But shortly after Donald Trump took the oath of office, cellphones lit up and migrants received messages that their appointments were no longer valid. Marjelis Tinoco, a migrant from Venezuela, knelt on the ground and prayed. Let's listen.
MARJELIS TINOCO: (Speaking Spanish and crying).
PERALTA: And what she's saying is she's saying, “My God, why me? Dear God,” she said, “why so much pain?” And reporters asked her: What would you say to President Trump if you could talk to him?
TINOCO: (speaking Spanish)
PERALTA: And she says, “I would tell him to have pity on letting us cross. It was six months of suffering.”
I think what's important here is that Tinoco, like all migrants in this line, had been given an appointment to legally cross the border. Many of them had waited for months in Mexico, vying every day for the opportunity to present their cases to U.S. authorities, and yesterday their dreams were dashed.
SHAPIRO: These changes obviously also affect Mexicans who have no intention of coming to the United States. What does the Mexican government say?
PERALTA: Well, you see, there are two big implications for Mexico. First, because Mexico – because Trump effectively closed the border to migrants and reinstated a policy called “Remain in Mexico.” And that means migrants from around the world trying to get to the United States would have to seek asylum in Mexico. And second, they're worried that Trump has promised mass deportations of undocumented migrants, and that could affect many Mexicans. And here in a large parking lot just down the street, Civil Defense members are building a tent city that they say could hold about 5,000 people, so they're getting ready for that.
SHAPIRO: NPR's Eyder Peralta reports from Juarez, Mexico. Thank you.
PERALTA: Thanks, Ari.
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