Migrants in Mexico who were hoping to come to the U.S. are adjusting to a new and uncertain reality after President Donald Trump began cracking down on border security.

By Laura Gottesdiener and Lizbeth Diaz CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (Reuters) - Mexican authorities have begun constructing giant tent shelters in the city of Ciudad Juarez to prepare for a possible influx of Mexicans deported under U.

"It's unprecedented," said Ciudad Juarez municipal official Enrique Licon as workers unloaded long metal bracings from tractor trailers parked in the large empty lot yards from the Rio Grande in order to build a tent city for deportees from the United States.

Mexican authorities are building temporary shelters in Ciudad Juarez and other cities to prepare to receive nationals deported from the U.S. by President Donald Trump.

Some residents and business leaders in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez have reacted to threats by U.S. President Donald Trump of tariffs on Mexican imports. (AP/ Martín Silva Rey)

The shelters in Ciudad Juarez will have the capacity to house thousands of people, a municipal official has said.

The US-Mexico border is effectively closed off to migrants seeking asylum in the United States within hours of President Donald Trump taking office, an extraordinary departure from previous protocols that has left many concerned migrants in limbo.

A secret tunnel discovered last week on the U.S.-Mexico border will be sealed by Mexican authorities, an army official in Ciudad Juarez said Saturday.

Mexico erected sprawling tents on the United States border as it braced for the effects of Donald Trump’s mass deportation drive. In an empty lot in Ciudad Juarez, which neighbours Texas, cranes lifted metal frames for tent shelters.

SAN DIEGO — Migrants waiting to enter the US using former Joe Biden’s CBP One app broke down in tears after their appointments were canceled the moment President Trump took office Monday – just the first of the sweeping border actions the new administration prepared for the first day.

The Mexican government plans to establish nine reception areas for deportees in Mexico's six northern border states over the coming weeks.

The CBP One app that worked as recently as that morning would no longer be used to admit migrants after facilitating entry for nearly 1 million people since January 2023.