As panic set in, two men tied ladders together with rope and placed them on top of the steel border wall that separated Tijuana from southern California.
“Hurry up, hurry up and keep moving!” shouted the smugglers at the bottom of the ladder. The Zimbabwean girl stood up and looked down with wide eyes, she hesitated before taking the next step.
On Monday, as migrants in Mexico learned that President Trump has canceled all asylum appointments after taking office and plans to sign more executive orders closing the border, one group made one last difficult and dangerous attempt to cross into the United States.
One by one, they climbed up the rickety building, then slid down to the other side. The winners helped capture the women and children. But another woman fell down on his way and lay crying in pain and clutching her leg.
“We’re doing this out of necessity, not because we want to, and that’s it,” said Carlos Porras, 39, from Peru, referring to the barricades. He also injured his ankle while jumping and limping.
After a while, the group was approached by Border Patrol officers.
The scene revealed the despair of the migrants who found out on Monday that the border has been closed. All are left processing emotions, from confusion to despair.
“I feel angry, I’m sad, I feel everything,” said Katherine Romero, 36, a Venezuelan who waited a year in Mexico City for her appointment Monday and worked odd jobs to save for a plane ticket to Tijuana. “I do not believe you.”
In a series of orders signed on Monday evening, Mr. Trump has effectively closed the country’s borders to immigrants, part of a policy that includes a national emergency declaration to send troops to the border and a broader ban on asylum seekers.
His superiors shut down the CBP One app just minutes after Mr. Trump took the presidential oath this morning. Created by the Biden administration, the app allowed immigrants to schedule appointments to gain entry to the United States but has been a target of Republicans.
This system allowed 1,450 people a day to schedule an appointment to present themselves at the port of entry and request asylum. More than 900,000 people entered the country using CBP One from its launch until the end of 2024.
At a migrant camp in Mexico City on Monday, Cristian Morillo Romero, a Venezuelan who arrived in Mexico a year ago, found out that Mr. Trump has ended the CBP One program. He said he doesn’t know what that means for his January 26 hiring in Calexico, Calif.
Then he opened his email. There was a message in English titled “CBP One Appointment Canceled” which explained that the existing appointments are “no longer valid.”
“I want to cry,” said Mr. Morillo Romero, 37. When he finally hit him later, he hit him.
In Ciudad Juárez, across the border from El Paso, only one group of 100 people was allowed to cross into the United States for the morning election. Just before 11 a.m., Mexican border officials said they received a notification from their American counterparts: No more nominations are being accepted.
“I’m shocked,” said John Flores Bonalte, 36, a Venezuelan who never made it to his appointment at 1 p.m. “It is not fair. We were waiting for the official crossing for a long time. We have been waiting in Mexico for seven months to be nominated.”
José Antonio Zuchite, 40, said he left Honduras in September and waited five months in Mexico City before coming to Ciudad Juárez this weekend with “high hopes” for his current appointment that was canceled Monday afternoon.
“I have no place to live,” he said, as his voice cracked. “I have no family or acquaintances here. I’m on the road.”
Aline Corpus in Tijuana again Annie Correal in Mexico City contributed to the reporting.
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