The number of border crossers arriving in the United States via its southern border has soared in recent months, with 132,887 people detained in May. Many of those arriving are coming from Central America.
This migration has intensified because of violence, food insecurity, and a lack of economic opportunity. Many are fleeing countries with sky-high murder rates, including Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. And years of drought are affecting farmers across the region. Entire crops have been lost in Guatemala, where more than half the population lives below the poverty line.
To avoid U.S. tariffs, the Mexican government agreed in June to contain Central American migrants, many passing through the country on their way to the United States. Mexico promised to deploy 6,000 troops—from its newly created Guardia Nacional, or National Guard—to patrol the crossing points and strategic smuggling routes across the country.
The security force was first sent to the country’s southern border with Guatemala.
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A Salvadoran woman with her two children on the banks of the Suchiate River, just after crossing into Mexico. The river runs along Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala.
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A National Guard soldier stops traffic outside the city of Comitán, in Chiapas, searching for undocumented migrants traveling the back roads.
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Two Honduran families detained after trying to pass at the Comitán checkpoint. Thirteen-year-old Milsen, far left, traveled north with his farmer uncle Armando, obscured right, after drought ravaged Armando’s coffee crop.
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Unable to cross the Mexican border, a teenager, his mother, and little sister make their way back to their community in central Guatemala. Here, they rest in the main plaza in the Guatemalan border town of Nentón, where other migrants in similar situations have gathered.
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A woman and her young daughter return to Guatemala in a taxi after spending thousands of dollars on a smuggler to try to reach the United States.
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Members of Mexico’s new National Guard patrol the country’s southern border.