In Mexico’s cities bordering the U.S., migration numbers have changed. Where there was once a constant flow of people traveling in caravans, today the numbers have slowed to “a trickle.” However, Catholic shelters point out that, far from disappearing, migration has a new face.
In the southern Mexican city of Tapachula bordering Guatemala, known as the main entry point for migrants from Central and South America, the diocesan shelter Belén (Bethlehem) once had a constant population of 500 people.
However, that number began to decline gradually, explained Father César Augusto Cañaveral Pérez, director of the center, in an interview with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News.
“It decreased very slowly, little by little,” the priest noted, saying the change began to be noticeable in the last two years, although the most notable change occurred after Jan. 20, 2025, when Donald Trump again was sworn in as president of the United States and immediately signed a series of executive orders to tighten immigration policies.
Although initially, Cañaveral thought the shelter would be empty, it has continued to serve between 80 and 120 people daily. However, he said he no longer sees what he described as “mass exoduses.”
“Migration exoduses are no longer large,” he noted, but rather there is “a trickle of migration.”
A Pew Research Center study analyzed figures published by the U.S. Border Patrol on migrant apprehensions. The report states that “the 2025 total was the lowest in any fiscal year (October to September) since 1970.”
In 2025, 237,538 encounters between the Border Patrol and migrants were recorded, a figure well below the more than 1.5 million in 2024 and the more than 2 million registered in 2022. The Pew report clarifies that these figures refer to events and not to individuals, because the same migrant may be counted more than once.
New realities of migration
According to Cañaveral, the continued presence of the migrant population in Tapachula is due to three factors. The first is that “migrant settlements have grown” in the city. This leads to “a slightly greater agglomeration of people within the city.”
The second group is the return to what he called traditional, or transit migration, meaning “people who simply arrive at the shelter, shower, eat, and leave.”
The third group consists of those awaiting immigration processing by the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance to legally remain in Mexico.
This scenario, he warned, is worrisome, since “Tapachula is not a town capable of responding to this major migration issue because we don’t have the same infrastructure as Monterrey or Mexico City.”
Repatriated from the United States
On the country’s northern border with the U.S., there is also a change in the migration landscape, especially in Tijuana, a city known as one of the main border crossings.
Gilberto Martínez Amaya, administrator of the Scalabrinian Missionaries’ Migrant Shelter located in Tijuana, stated in an interview with ACI Prensa that currently, the flow of people arriving from south to north has seen “a very significant decrease,” although he clarified that “this does not mean there is no migration here on the border.”
Since the beginning of 2026, the shelter has registered “a gradual increase in its resident population,” composed mainly of repatriated individuals who had been living in the U.S. between five and 30 years.
The Mexican government reported that 160,000 people were repatriated during 2025, with the cities of Mexicali and Tijuana being the main points of return.
According to Martínez, the migrant shelter receives an average of 15 repatriated individuals daily, of whom “some stay with us for three days, a week, and then leave. Others want to settle here in Tijuana.”
This reality presents a new challenge for those who care for them, as these are people who “need more time, they need lodging, they need food, they need employment, they probably need medical attention, they definitely need psychological support.”
“Speaking of the migratory flow, well, it did decrease by 90% from south to north, but it increased from north to south with these repatriated individuals,” he said.
In Tijuana, the shelter’s services are primarily focused on repatriated men, while women and children are referred to the Madre Asunta center, run by the Missionary Sisters of St. Charles (Scalabrinian Sisters).
In addition to lodging and food, those who decide to stay receive support in finding employment, regularizing their immigration status, and integrating into the labor market.
They also receive assistance with child care, he said: “We take them to school, feed them, and pick them up. This way, the migrants arrive early, leave their children, and go to work.”
Future challenges
Both in the north and south of the country, the main challenge remains securing support for the institutions serving migrants. Martínez pointed out that “our biggest challenge is financial sustainability, because we don’t receive any aid.”
He indicated that civil society organizations stopped receiving government funding years ago and that international aid has also decreased.
Cañaveral agreed that the lack of resources “is a very big challenge for a very poor local Church.”
For this reason, he called on the Catholic Church throughout Mexico and the authorities not to let their guard down, especially during times like Lent, when faith calls for charity.
“We want to respond to the Gospel: ‘I was hungry and you gave me food, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,’” he said. “This is God’s work, and we must continue to provide support to our migrant brothers and sisters.”
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
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