Some migrants turn to pricey smugglers or riskier routes after Trump clampdown

FILE PHOTO: Asylum seekers, who had appointments made through the U.S. Customs and Border Protection CBP One application, wait outside the National Institute of Migration (INM) office for information in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico January 21, 2025. REUTERS/Cheney Orr/File Photo

PIEDRAS NEGRAS/TIJUANA, Mexico (Reuters) - After Honduran migrant Alex Diaz' U.S. asylum appointment was canceled following Donald Trump's immigration and border crackdown, the 23-year-old former bus driver began considering what he had been determined to avoid: entering the United States illegally.

Since Trump ended former President Joe Biden's legal entry program at the border and is ramping up border security, Diaz is considering using smugglers who would bring him deeper into the United States, along isolated pathways.