Migrant numbers are down significantly since Trump took office: ‘There’s no influx of people’
(CNN) – The Trump administration’s crackdown on migrants at the southern border is having a big impact.
One migrant shelter that CNN visited on the Honduras-Nicaragua border had only one man staying there.
“I’ve noticed that I’m alone here. There’s no influx of people,” said Jesús Rodríguez Machado, a Venezuelan migrant.
Rodríguez Machado is on his way to the U.S. from Venezuela, but it’s a very different picture than from years past. The shelter, run by a Catholic church, used to be packed with migrants heading to the United States.
“The exodus of people has practically stopped,” Rodríguez Machado said.
Immigration has been a top priority for President Donald Trump, who declared a national emergency at the U.S. southern border and has executed mass deportations since taking office in January.
Honduran authorities report a 90% drop in the number of undocumented immigrants passing through their country from January to March when compared to the same period last year.
Wilson Paz Reyes, the executive director of the National Migration Institute of Honduras, said last year’s migrant numbers were nearly ten times what they have been in 2025.
“We have 8,700 people who have passed through our country or who have entered our country illegally [this year], and last year, up to the same date, we had close to 87,000 to 90,000 people,” he said.
The public square in the border city of Danli, Honduras, is now practically empty, too. People who work nearby say they used to see dozens of migrants resting there just months ago.
“There are very few migrants, to be honest,” said Jeison López, a local merchant.
“Last year, this whole area was packed; this was the migrant zone. This year, we don’t see any migrants at all,” said José Luis Cardona, another Honduran merchant.
The merchants said sales at their stands have dropped, but that the area is cleaner and safer.
Migrant shelters still remain open, even if they aren’t seeing many people these days.
“This leads us to reduce installed capacity, but not completely shut down,” Paz Reyes said.
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