JUAREZ, Mexico (Border Report) – It wasn’t that long ago that a dozen buildings in the Pan de Vida shelter provided warm meals, medication, clothes and a roof over the heads of upwards of 400 migrants. Families from as far away as Colombia and Venezuela found protection from gangs and smu gglers behind the walls of this complex in the Anapra neighborhood of Juarez. Judge holds ICE agent in contempt after he detained suspect during a trial Many would walk to the border wall and surrender to U.S. immigration authorities to claim asylum. Others would wait months for an online appointment at a port of entry through the CBP One app, shelter director Ismael Martinez said. The flow began to dwindle when President Joe Biden decided last year the app would be the only lawful way to claim asylum. The traffic stopped when President Donald Trump took office in January. Texas Senate discusses bill requiring counties to work closer with ICE “Trump’s rules are severe, and migrant (arrivals) are rare,” Martinez said. This week, the caretaker took Border Report on a walk through the property where most of the white buildings adorned with the flags of Mexico, El Salvador and other countries stand empty. A single youth came out to pass the time on the swings in a small park while a Honduran man washed dishes in the kitchen and another adult male talked on a cellphone. Trump administration deports more migrants to Salvadoran prison The situation at other migrant refuges is much the same, officials in Juarez said. Migrant families who could not cross before Jan. 20 have returned to their homes or settled in working-class neighborhoods in places like Mexico City. A few remain in Juarez. Buildings at Pan de Vida migrant shelter sit empty after President Donald Trump shut down asylum at the U.S. border. (Border Report) The massive tent city built next to a soccer stadium a few yards from the Rio Grande is seeing a trickle of deported Mexican nationals; migrant-smuggling activity along the river also has gone down. Army Strykers deployed along Mexican border “We maintain communication with U.S. authorities to modify our public safety strategies and to assist in rescues. We have detected a decrease in migrant flows […] which is good because the season of high temperatures is approaching and that creates conditions of risk for people on the move,” Chihuahua state police Chief of Staff Luis Aguirre said. No more asylum at the border At Pan de Vida, Angel Andino, 20, said he waited almost a year for an online asylum appointment that never came. The native of La Ceiba, Honduras, said he planned to join his cleaning lady mom in Houston or his construction worker father in Oklahoma before asylum avenues shut down. Angel Andino, 20, is a migrant from Honduras staying at Pan de Vida shelter in Juarez, Mexico. (Border Report) “I left my country because of crime,” Andino said. “Those of us who are young must watch out for the Maras – the gangs – trying to recruit us. They tried to involve me and when I said no, they threatened me. My own family told me to leave." Army secretary: ‘Immigration facility’ at Fort Bliss has been ‘greenlighted’ The amateur soccer player said a barber he knew and a factory worker from his block were murdered during run-ins with the gangs. Stuck in Juarez, Andino is trying to get a Mexican work permit and wait for the U.S. to soften its immigration policies. “I feel impotence being so close (to the United States) and not being able to be on the other side and improve my life,” he said. “There have been other people who were here and turned back when they eliminated (CBP One). I will not go back …. maybe in the future, when things improve in Honduras, when it is a safer place.” Pentagon reviews plans to cut troops handling migrants at Guantanamo by as much as half Antonio Rodriguez, a fellow Honduran, said staying in Mexico and finding work is his remaining option in the absence of asylum in the U.S. He must provide for his daughter in Tegucigalpa – a city he left after gang members began demanding half his salary from a food-delivery job. “I will work here in Mexico and, God willing, if one day I get the chance to cross the border, that would be good,” he said. Border Democrat pans use of military bases for deportations The migrant said he avoided the cartels in Mexico by procuring a humanitarian visa and staying at different shelters as he made his way north. He was lucky. Martinez said he often hears horror stories from those who knock on the door. New Mexico wants to close migrant detention centers “Some have seen family members die in the desert, mutilated by the train or their child died. They suffer from hunger, they suffer rape. [….] I would not want to be in their shoes,” he said. Migration ‘will never end’ Martinez said Pan de Vida has received a few migrants from the United States, though he didn’t say if they were deported or left voluntarily. A guest at the Pan de Vida migrants shelters in Juarez volunteers to wash dishes. (Border Report) “We receive them with open arms just the same. Some say they work from sunup to sundown – they rarely see their apartments. The food is not the same. They suffer discrimination,” he said. “In some cases their mom, their brother dies and they are not there.” Marines install razor wire at border park, further restricting access Martinez said some have returned from Los Angeles, Chicago and even Canada to their towns in Central America. Others are giving life in Juarez a shot – working informal economy jobs or operating small businesses. He knows of two Central Americans who married Mexican women and will stay in the city for good. Pan de Vida has hosted 13,000 migrants since 2019, the shelter director said. Visit the BorderReport.com homepage for the latest exclusive stories and breaking news about issues along the U.S.-Mexico border “I think migration will never end, regardless which president wants to end it. The United States depends on migrant labor on the fields, in restaurants and hotels,” Martinez said. ...read more read less