Latin American migrants are turning around in droves and expressing regret at attempting to cross unlawfully into the United States under President Donald Trump’s watch.
The U.S.-Mexico border has become unusually quiet in the past several weeks, with Border Patrol encounters stooping to levels not experienced in decades. The drop is being attributed to the “Trump effect,” where dramatically ramped-up enforcement policies and a nixing of government services have prompted many illegal migrants to simply turn around and not bother trying to enter the United States.
Karla Castillo, a 36-year-old Venezuelan national, says she “regrets a thousand times” having left Chile, where she had been living for several years, to try and enter the U.S., according to El Mostrador, a Chilean newspaper.
“My goal was to get to the United States and then bring my children, but they closed the border and it could not be done,” Castillo said of her botched plans. “It is time to return to Venezuela and wait a little while to return to Chile again.”
Given that Castillo reportedly admitted she had “excellent bosses” working as a nanny in Chile and even plans to return to the country, it’s unclear how she would’ve qualified for asylum in the U.S.
“The opportunity [to enter the U.S.] did not arise, but I do not regret it,” said John Orozco, a Venezuelan who is now traveling south after giving up on trying to cross the southern border, according to El Mostrador. The Venezuelan national lived and worked in Mexico for six months in an attempt to land an appointment through the CBP One app, but the program has since been cancelled by the Trump White House.
Much like Castillo, Orozco also appeared to be an economic migrant, describing few work opportunities in his home country of Venezuela and now setting his sights on Chile as his next destination, according to EL Mostrador. He has reportedly spent as much $900 on his southward journey.
The vast majority of illegal migrants who apply for asylum are eventually denied by an immigration court, demonstrating how most of the foreign nationals who wreaked havoc on the southern border were simply economic migrants — not victims of targeted violence in their home countries. A Department of Homeland Security official in February 2024 acknowledged that roughly 80% of asylum seekers who reach the U.S. are rejected and sent back.
Evidence of illegal migrants giving up on the northward journey to the U.S. border can be witnessed in the Darien Gap, a vast jungle region spread across Colombia and Panama that is crossed by South American migrants and other foreign nationals.
More than half a million migrants crossed the Darien at the height of the migrant crisis in 2023. Passage across the Darien has since fallen well over 90%, with a total of just 2,159 illegal migrant crossings in January 2025 compared to the 34,839 crossings tallied in January 2024.
“I would say that people are less inclined to go through the Darien when they know very well that they’re going to end up shipped back home,” Allan Baitel, a Panamanian citizen, previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation about the local situation. “So the carrot has disappeared, and there’s no reason for them to head north.”
The drop-off in crossings coincides with an unprecedented effort by the Trump administration to tighten security, such as the deployment of troops along the southern border and successfully coercing the Mexican government to do the same. The president also resumed construction of border wall and terminated the CBP One app, which was popular among migrants hoping to score an asylum application.
The president also defunded brick-and-mortar buildings established by the Biden administration, known as Safe Mobility Offices, that made it demonstrably easier for migrants to apply for asylum.
Much of the activity across the Darien now consists of migrants turning around and heading back south. Smugglers are now reportedly charging around $200 to $250 per migrant to transport them back through the Darien in a “reverse flow” phenomenon.
The reverse migratory flow has prompted Central American governments to take more action.
Panamanian and Costa Rican authorities agreed earlier in February to transfer migrants returning south to shelters along the border and eventually return them to their countries of origin via aircraft provided by the U.S., according to EFE, a Spanish-language news agency. The Central American officials expect southward migration to pick up more in the coming days.
“We want to guarantee an orderly, legal, humanitarian, and safe migratory flow,” a Costa Rican minister said of the agreement. “This meeting marks the beginning of a coordination that seeks to ensure the return of migrants to their countries of origin in adequate conditions.”
As migration southward continues to tick up, a Panamanian official confirmed that his country is also looking into the possibility of establishing direct repatriation flights between Panama and Venezuela, according to EFE. Such an arrangement would further streamline the process of illegal migrants choosing to go back.
“We do not have diplomatic relations with Venezuela, but the Panamanian Foreign Ministry will indeed try to make the pertinent contacts through the authorities to ensure that they receive their nationals,” Minister of Public Security, Frank Ábrego, said in a statement.
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