President Donald Trump's strict immigration policies have trapped migrants who fled their countries of origin only to be turned back by American authorities, Mother Jones reports.
Even before Trump assumed office, border patrol officials began turning away migrants seeking refugee status, saying, "Trump doesn't want you here." Many were forced to return to areas like Reynosa, Mexico, where fighting between the Gulf and Zetas cartels has turned the migrants into resources.
"The cartel has people keeping tabs on the city, including at the shelters," Leah Chavla of the Women's Refugee Commission told Mother Jones. An anonymous refugee rights advocate added that the cartel will "grab everyone who looks like a refugee that they can, knowing that there's going to be someone up north who will pay thousands of dollars to save that person's life."
Felipe Jimenez Hernandez, a 37-year-old immigrant who was deported from the U.S. after nine years after committing a traffic violation, waits in a Reynosa shelter trying to contact his wife and two children back in America during the three days he's able to stay. He has no friends or relatives in Reynosa, the closest being 1,500 miles away in Oaxaca.
"We only get a few days here," he told Mother Jones.
"They get three days — up to five for extreme circumstances," Edith Hinojosa de Garza, the shelter's board president, told Mother Jones. Anywhere from 70 to 100 people arrive every few days.
She adds, "we don't have the space" for them to stay longer.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.