Overview
- CBP reports 443,671 migrant encounters in fiscal 2025, down from 2,135,000 a year earlier, a reduction of nearly 80%.
- Panama’s official data show Darién crossings plunging from roughly 500,000 in 2023 and 302,000 in 2024 to 3,032 between January and November this year.
- Mexico logged 141,144 migratory detentions from January to October, an 87% drop versus 1,087,815 in the same 2024 period, according to the Unidad de Política Migratoria.
- Honduras and Guatemala report steep falls in irregular crossings—about 369,000 to 50,000 in Honduras and 208,000 to 35,000 in Guatemala—while El Salvador cites an 80% reduction and a February accord to receive deportees and certain convicted foreigners from the United States.
- Experts attribute the regional decline to US pressure and the externalization of border control, with analysts warning that Mexico now faces COMAR backlogs, expansion of informal low‑paid work for stranded migrants, and risks of exploitation and xenophobic tensions.