Published: TUESDAY February 18, 2025: 'Left In Limbo' by ZUMA Press award winning photo-journalist Carlos A. Moreno: US Border Patrol arrested 29,000 migrants illegally crossing into the U.S. in January, the lowest monthly arrest tally since May 2020. Trump issued an array of executive orders after taking office to crack down on illegal immigration, sending military troops to the border and blocking migrants from claiming asylum. The measures have left thousands of asylum seekers in limbo on the US-Mexico border. Many had been waiting months for appointments with US immigration. The administration took steps to ramp up deportations of migrants in the U.S. and used the threat of tariffs on Canada and Mexico to enact harsher measures on their respective borders to stem irregular migration into the US. Welcome to 'Left In Limbo'
© zReportage.com Issue #977 Story of the Week: Published: TUESDAY February 18, 2025: 'Left In Limbo' by ZUMA Press award winning photo-journalist Carlos A. Moreno: US Border Patrol arrested 29,000 migrants illegally crossing into the U.S. in January, the lowest monthly arrest tally since May 2020. Trump issued an array of executive orders after taking office to crack down on illegal immigration, sending military troops to the border and blocking migrants from claiming asylum. The measures have left thousands of asylum seekers in limbo on the US-Mexico border. Many had been waiting months for appointments with US immigration. The administration took steps to ramp up deportations of migrants in the U.S. and used the threat of tariffs on Canada and Mexico to enact harsher measures on their respective borders to stem irregular migration into the US. Welcome to 'Left In Limbo'

Migrant children from Haiti play on the border fence as they wait for their CBP One appointments at the El Chaparral border port in Tijuana. President Trump issued ten executive orders and proclamations seeking to change the face of U.S. immigration law and policy, touching nearly every aspect of a complex and exacting system.
© Carlos A. Moreno/ZUMA Press Wire

United States Marine Corps troops patrol near the San Ysidro Port of Entry on the San Diego side of the border. The US Defense Department deployed 1,600 troops to the US-Mexico border during US President Trump's second week in office to help stem the flow of illegal migration into the US.
© Carlos A. Moreno/ZUMA Press Wire

An asylum seeker with a cancelled appointment to enter the United States waits to speak to a Mexican immigration official to check his documents as he reviews the CBP One app on a cellphone at the El Chaparral border crossing port in Tijuana, The CBP One mobile app no longer allows asylum seekers to schedule appointments with U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
© Carlos A. Moreno/ZUMA Press Wire

Asylum seekers wait for their CBP One appointments before crossing through El Chaparral border port in Tijuana. The new administration shut down the CBP One app for migrants. President Trump issued ten executive orders and proclamations seeking to change the face of U.S. immigration law and policy, touching nearly every aspect of a complex and exacting system.
© Carlos A. Moreno/ZUMA Press Wire

An asylum seeker from El Salvador SILVIA MARTINEZ embraces her daughter MARIA, as they wait for their CBP One appointments before crossing through El Chaparral border port from Tijuana into the USA.
© Carlos A. Moreno/ZUMA Press Wire

Asylum seekers after waiting for hours without getting their 'CBP One' appointments and without other options, volunteer to board private taxis organized by the city government of Tijuana to take them to shelters for the night at the El Chaparral border port.
© Carlos A. Moreno/ZUMA Press Wire

Asylum seekers begin to enter the United States as a Mexican immigration official checks their documents for their CBP One appointments at El Chaparral border crossing port in Tijuana. Incoming President Trump has promised to shut down the CBP One asylum app for migrants crossing legally.
© Carlos A. Moreno/ZUMA Press Wire

An asylum seeker with a cancelled CBP One appointment to enter the United States waits to speak to a Mexican immigration official to check his documents at the El Chaparral border crossing port in Tijuana.
© Carlos A. Moreno/ZUMA Press Wire

Asylum seekers with young children arrive at the El Chaparral border crossing in Tijuana for their CBP One appointments in order to enter the USA legally.
© Carlos A. Moreno/ZUMA Press Wire

Members of the Mexican National Guard patrol near a new interactive mural of deported veterans at the Playas de Tijuana beach border wall, 'The Deported Veterans Diaspora' mural is part of a larger project by Lizbeth De La Cruz Santana, an assistant professor in the department of Black and Latino Studies at Baruch College in New York City.
© Carlos A. Moreno/ZUMA Press Wire

A large gathering of protestors at National City's Highland Avenue in San Diego County demonstrated against anti-immigrant policies towards Mexicans living and working in the US and San Diego as the new US administration as geared up to do mass deportations.
© Carlos A. Moreno/ZUMA Press Wire

SHARON AGUILERA, 27, from Indiana with her husband in the US Military in San Diego, came to speak against immigration raids as she says many Mexicans living and working in the US and San Diego are scared. Aguilera attended the protest to speak for those who will be discriminated against, as she gathered with protestors at National City's Highland Avenue in San Diego County.
© Carlos A. Moreno/ZUMA Press Wire

An Indian woman unties her shoe laces as she prepares to be transported and processed by US Border Patrol at Dulzura, in San Diego County after crossing the US border illegally from Mexico. The US government has identified about 18,000 Indian nationals it believes entered illegally.
© Carlos A. Moreno/ZUMA Press Wire

A US Border Patrol agent checks a migrant before he is transported and processed at Dulzura in San Diego County. The man crossed into the US illegally from Mexico and is seeking asylum.
© Carlos A. Moreno/ZUMA Press Wire

Mexican National Guard officers check vehicles heading into San Diego at the San Ysidro Port of Entry crossing in Tijuana. At the southern border between the US and Mexico a planned deployment of 10,000 Mexican National Guard troops, under an agreement with US President Trump to stop the flow of migration and drugs.
© Carlos A. Moreno/ZUMA Press Wire

Mexican national guard members watch as deported migrants walk into Tijuana's Flamingo Plaza's detention center for Mexican repatriates, a government program set up to help deported migrants. The Mexican government is setting up shelters for expelled migrants in border cities.
© Carlos A. Moreno/ZUMA Press Wire

Mexican National Guard troops arrive at Military Air Base No. 12 near the Tijuana International Airport. The arrival of Mexico's first 300 officers in the border city begins the 10,000 troop deployment Mexican President Sheinbaum had promised President Trump in exchange for delaying a 25-percent tariff on exported goods for a month with future negotiations to be determined.
© Carlos A. Moreno/ZUMA Press Wire

Mexican Marine troops guard a smuggler who was bringing migrants illegally into the US. The man who almost drowned before being rescued by Tijuana lifeguards, was detained and questioned by Mexican soldiers as he was getting treatment from medics.
© Carlos A. Moreno/ZUMA Press Wire

A broken picture frame of the United States flag in captures a member of the US Marine Corps installing concertina wire along the US-Mexico border wall in San Diego, seen from Tijuana in between the San Diego-Tijuana border fences of Colonia Libertad.
© Carlos A. Moreno/ZUMA Press Wire

Members of the US Marine Corps install concertina wire along the US-Mexico border wall in San Diego, California, seen from Tijuana, Mexico in between the San Diego-Tijuana border fences of Colonia Libertad. The US Defense Department deployed 1,600 active-duty troops to the border during President Trump's first week in office.
© Carlos A. Moreno/ZUMA Press Wire