Tens of thousands of migrants are expected to attempt to enter the United States in the coming days after a Covid-era immigration policy known as Title 42 expires late Thursday. The policy allowed the rapid expulsion of migrants for public health reasons.
Many people crossing the border are adults traveling alone. Others travel in family groups, large or small, with children and whatever supplies or belongings they can hold. They cross rivers, lift each other through challenging terrain, and often depend on the generosity of community groups for food and water.
New York Times photographers document the experience on both sides of the border, from Tijuana on the west coast to Matamoros on the Gulf of Mexico.
Thursday, May 11
EL PASO, TEXAS
Migrants who turned themselves in at the Mexico-US border are taken into custody at Gate 42 in El Paso.
In the hours leading up to the end of Title 42, a Border Patrol officer searches for a group of migrants who recently crossed the border into Sunland Park, New Mexico.
Erwin Gomez, from Venezuela, broke his wrist last week when he fell climbing the border fence and was sent to a hospital instead of being deported. He stayed at Annunciation House, a shelter in El Paso.
Migrants lined up to be processed by US Customs and Border Protection at a makeshift camp just north of the Rio Grande, in El Paso.
TIJUANA, MEXICO
Migrants, some of whom had been in the same place for days, awaited trial by US authorities.
SAN DIEGO, CA.
Migrants were trapped between two fences in an area known as “Limbo” or “No Man’s Land” as they waited for their appointments with US Customs and Border Protection.
REYNOSA, MEXICO
Osiris Yamileth Ochoa Núñez, 20, left; her husband, Elvis Josué Codela, 27; and their 8-month-old daughter passed the time near an official United States port of entry by selling chewing gum.
MATAMOROS, MEXICO
Several thousand migrants waiting in Mexico for appointments to seek asylum, as required under Title 42, live in squalid conditions along the south bank of the Rio Grande.
YUMA, ARIZ.
A mobile phone charging station at the Regional Center for Border Health in Somerton, on the outskirts of the town of Yuma, where migrants released by Border Patrol are taken to get help buying airline tickets.
A group of at least 500 migrants from around the world, including Peru, Brazil, Ghana and Thailand, began crossing the border near Yuma, Ariz, after dark on Thursday.
Wednesday May 10
TIJUANA, MEXICO
People gathered at a border fence to buy food ordered through delivery apps as they waited for the next leg of their journey.
SAN DIEGO, CA.
In San Diego, some had been waiting in the same place for days. State officials are concerned that a large wave of migrants could overwhelm homeless shelters and hospitals not only in the city, but across California.
CIUDAD JUAREZ, MEXICO
Just across the border from El Paso, Texas, more and more people are arriving on a freight train so dangerous it’s known as “the beast” or “the train of death” because so many migrants have fallen off and lost limbs or have died. perished.
EL PASO, TEXAS
Men who had previously entered the United States waited on a bus to board a deportation flight at El Paso International Airport.
People being repatriated to Guatemala boarded a plane in El Paso.
BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS
Migrants rushed to reach the north bank of the Rio Grande before U.S. National Guardsmen finished installing concertina wire to block their access.
People being processed at the border washed a vehicle in hopes of getting money to pay for bus tickets to go further into the United States.
EAGLE PASS, TEXAS
A group of people crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico, while National Guard soldiers waited on the riverbank on the American side.
After crossing the river, they followed a path up from the riverbank into American territory.
Tuesday May 9
MATAMOROS, MEXICO
Maritza Carrizo, an asylum seeker from Barinas, Venezuela, was on a bunk bed in a migrant reception center. She and some relatives had appointments the next day to cross the border and apply for asylum.
At 10 a.m. dozens of people tried to book asylum appointments via the smartphone app of Customs and Border Protection. Most of the newly available appointment times were taken within five minutes, they said.
At a local shelter, people lined up to pick up a meal.
EL PASO, TEXAS
Karolayn Paz Majares, a Venezuelan migrant, wept after learning that migrants would be allowed to remain on US soil while they waited to surrender to border patrol in El Paso.
A member of the Texas Army National Guard spoke to a migrant about a plan to erect a fence around an area near Gate 40 of the border wall where people who crossed the river have been waiting to turn themselves in.
A Venezuelan woman shielded herself from the sun with her passport as she stood in line to be processed by US border officials.
Monday May 8
CIUDAD JUAREZ, MEXICO
Migrants rode in open boxcars through a barren landscape towards the border. The metal walls of the train became so cold at night that it was difficult to sleep, and so hot during the day that it was painful to touch them with bare skin.
Venezuelans who had come north by freight train crossed the border a few hours later.
Ruben Soto, right, from Venezuela, with Rosa Bello, from Honduras, riding a boxcar.
EL PASO, TEXAS
Migrants poked through a hole in the harmonica wire on the US side of the border. Some carried supplies of food and water.
Crowds gathered at the border fence in El Paso to turn themselves in to border police for processing.
About 200 members of the Texas National Guard arrived in El Paso by plane to provide assistance along the border.
Sunday May 7
CIUDAD JUAREZ, MEXICO
Venezuelan migrants climbed between hopper wagons on a freight train, hoping to reach the border.