Dehumanizing migration policies are endangering hundreds of thousands in the Americas

“These policies, combined with the drastic reduction of aid and the humanitarian footprint along the migration route, have had a devastating impact on the well-being of people trying to seek safety,” says Franking Frías, deputy manager of operations for MSF in Mexico and Central America. “This suffering is deliberately made invisible, hidden by the inaccurate narrative that migration has stopped. But every day, we see the consequences in patients who are living with untreated injuries, trauma from sexual violence, and severe mental health conditions that make their daily life impossible.”

Released today, the report, “Unwelcome. The Devastating Human Impact of Migration Policy Changes in the United States, Mexico and Central America,” showcases how recent policy changes have eroded the right to seek asylum and left many migrants and asylum seekers stranded with nowhere safe to go, trapping them in a cycle of physical, emotional, and institutional violence. The report is based on analysis of MSF medical data and in-depth interviews with patients of many nationalities in various stages of migration, and with MSF staff working along the migration route in Panama, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico. 

Closing avenues to seek asylum 

In late January, the US government closed the main avenues to request asylum and protection—including shutting down the CBP One application and ending humanitarian parole— heightened security at the border with Mexico, and deported people in unconscionable conditions, including deporting people in shackles, sending deportees to third countries, and separating families. 

“We feel abandoned and unprotected,” says a Honduran woman who is stuck in Reynosa, in northern Mexico. “We never wanted to enter the United States illegally. We ask for benevolence for cases like mine: mothers who have been waiting for a long time with children, who want to give them a better life. We have already gone through a process; we already had a right. We have been victims of scams, the cartels, we have been deceived, we are traumatized.” The woman had secured an appointment through CBP One for three days after the app was shut down and all appointments were cancelled.

On top of this, several countries across the Latin American migration corridor have also strengthened deterrence measures. Law enforcement agents and immigration authorities in the region have forcefully returned migrants, restricted people’s movements, and dismantled urban camps where people with nowhere else to go were sheltering. They have closed migration reception stations, dissolved gatherings in public spaces, carried out raids, arbitrarily detained people, increased patrolling, and complicated and reduced access to bureaucratic procedures—including asylum processes. 

Trapped in a cycle of violence 

“We were held captive for 60 days,” says a Venezuelan man stranded in Ciudad Juárez, northern Mexico. “[People] hit me on the head, pulled a tooth, and shoved a gun in my mouth to take pictures and call one of my sons in the United States. My son and son-in-law paid the ransom, and we were released. The plan was to go to the United States. The rest of my family is there waiting for us. But with this US government, we don't know what to do.”

Carmen López, MSF manager for mobile health activities, shares the story of a Venezuelan patient she assisted in Guatemala. The man and his son were deported earlier this year from the US, despite having entered through CBP One: “First, they were held in a detention center in the United States separately for about 20 days. Later, they were deported to Mexico. During the transfer to the Mexican authorities, his backpack containing personal items and savings was stolen. They were left in Villahermosa [a town in southeastern Mexico]. They had to start their return [to Venezuela] without money. He was very frustrated because he had gone through the legal process, and it had all been a lie in the end.”

For many, returning to their country is not an option, either because of a lack of financial resources or fear of what they fled in the first place—such as, the political and economic crises in Venezuela or Cuba, rife violence in Haiti, conflict in peripheral regions of Colombia, or threats from criminal groups and a lack of opportunities in Ecuador and other Central American countries. “We were given a 24-hour ultimatum to pay an amount of money we didn’t have,” says a Salvadoran woman in Tapachula, southern Mexico. “Migrating was neither a political choice nor a search for better economic opportunities. It was an urgent decision to save our lives.” 

With seeking asylum at the United States southern border now close to impossible, tens of thousands of people are seeing Mexico as the only alternative option. But MSF teams witness how asylum procedures in Mexico have become lengthier and more complex in several cities. In parallel, violence perpetrated by organized crime groups and other actors remains alarming, including kidnappings, extortion, robberies, sexual violence, and labor exploitation. “Violence is much more evident now,” says Ricardo Santiago, who coordinated MSF programs in northern and southern Mexico. “Before—given the large number of people on the move—some would be spared, whereas today most of the people I've spoken with have been victims of violence. There is no escape.”

The emotional toll of uncertainty 

MSF teams in the region, particularly in Mexico, have seen an increase in psychological needs among patients and a high proportion of people with severe mental health issues despite a reduction of medical activities since the slowing of migration flows. In recent years, many patients have had an obvious need for mental health support because of the recurrent violence suffered and the precarious living conditions endured along the migration route. But on top of these experiences, people now face uncertainty provoked by the drastic and numerous policy changes, which trigger despair once people realize that all they endured to reach the US was in vain. 

“The symptoms are increasingly intense,” says Lucía Samayoa, MSF project coordinator in Tapachula. “They're living under a lot of pressure and stress. Many people require pharmacological treatment, with a more structured, longer therapeutic process.” 

Moreover, stranded migrants and asylum seekers have dispersed, becoming more invisible—due to fear of prosecution, detention, and deportation in the midst of a stigmatizing environment, in which they are repeatedly labeled as criminals. 

“Today, migrants are less accessible and the humanitarian system is unprepared to effectively address their vulnerabilities and complex needs,” says Frías. “Behind every policy is its impact on real people: survivors of torture, families escaping danger, and children navigating border crossings alone. Their health, safety, and dignity are legal and moral obligations. All governments in the region must act now to protect, not punish, people in search of safety, and create safe immigration pathways.”

MSF’s work along the migration corridor in the Americas

January 2024 and May 2025 MSF teams provided more than 90,000 primary health consultations and 11,850 sexual and reproductive health consultations, treated almost 3,000 survivors of sexual violence, and carried out nearly 17,000 individual mental health consultations—most resulting from violence—to people on the move in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Panama.