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When the news hit the airwaves that Donald Trump had won the 2024 presidential election, panic fell on traveling immigrants who had hoped Vice President Kamala Harris would become the next commander-in-chief. For a couple of months now, people have been traveling to the US, hoping to get in before the changing of the guard. Currently, there is a caravan in Mexico of about 3,000 headed this way.

Trump’s record on immigration and his plans for cracking down on illegals crossing the border has spread fear among migrants. A spokesperson for Chiapas state security told Reuters that “while the migrant caravan continues north, some families are choosing to turn back to Tapachula, near the Guatemalan border.”

As it became clear that Trump would become the 47th president of the US, migrants shared their fears and advice on WhatsApp, which happens to be a common way for smugglers to advertise their – ahem – services, as NBC News reported. Here are a few snippets of conversations:

• “After the 21 of January, he’ll [Trump] close the borders with extreme security.”
• “He [Trump] takes power on the 21 of January. He can’t make any decree yet.”
• “There’s not a lot of [time] left. He has the decrees already in his mind.”
• “You have until January to enter.”

Gustavo Banda operates Templo Embajadores de Jesus, a shelter in Tijuana, Mexico, with a capacity for about 1,400 migrants. He told NBC News that coyotes (smugglers) are pressuring people to start crossing the border now.  “Of course, the coyotes will arrive, they are going to say that they need to get in before Donald Trump arrives.”

Francisco Loureiro operates a shelter in Nogales, Mexico, near the US border. He told NBC News that he talked to immigrants on Election Day about their concerns. “We have migrants who are worried, who don’t know what is going to happen now with their [CBP ONE App] appointment.”

On Monday, the day before the election, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas held a virtual meeting with top advisors to address concerns over a possible surge of migrants should Trump beat out Harris, especially regarding the CBP ONE app and the increase in usage. Some travelers have commented that they’d been waiting a month or more to get an appointment from the phone app.

Trump’s Plans for Migrants

Immigration was a top voter issue, so what does President-elect Trump have in store to deal with the massive influx of migrants who have or plan to cross the border?

Restore “Remain in Mexico”: The “Remain in Mexico” program required asylum-seekers from certain nations to wait in Mexico until their cases could be heard and resolved. President Joe Biden ended the program in February 2021, but Trump plans to reinstate it.

Title 42: The Biden administration ended Title 42 in May 2023, but Trump plans to bring it back, he said in an interview with Time magazine. Under this program, border authorities could reject and return migrants to Mexico before they can claim asylum. During COVID-19, this was also used as a health protection measure.

Goodbye Catch-and-Release: Trump has vowed to end catch-and-release, a very unpopular process among supporters of tougher immigration laws. To help with this, he will ask Congress to provide an additional 10,000 border patrol agents.

Finish the Wall: It’s time to finish what was started, and Trump has pledged to close the gaps. During his administration, 450 miles of barriers were built, but most of that progress was to replace existing structures.

Tariffs: Another consideration is to place tariffs on China and some other nations to prevent migrants from entering the US from those countries.

Deportation: The president-elect has promised to launch the biggest deportation effort in the nation’s history. While the program will focus on criminals, it will also aim to send millions of illegals back to their countries. Trump has said, if needed, the National Guard could be used to deport illegal migrants. He plans to be aggressive in expelling those with criminal records or who are suspected gang members. To do this, the former president may use the Alien Enemies Act, which was used to intern German, Italian, and Japanese people during World War II.

Travel Ban: Immigrants from certain areas, such as the Gaza Strip, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, and “anywhere else that threatens our security,” could face a travel ban.

The race is on for migrants to reach America before the changing of the guard. While they fear how Trump’s victory will impact their ability to get into the US, that doesn’t keep most of them from trying. “People will seek new paths; it’ll be more dangerous, but it won’t stop them,” Heyman Vazquez, a Catholic priest and pro-migrant activist in Chiapas, told NBC News.

What will next week bring us in Open Borders America?