Mexico's northern border is preparing for a transformation with the expected arrival of thousands of migrants who will seek to settle in the area, because they cannot return to their places of origin due to violence or to stay close to their relatives whom they were trying to join in the US,

Mayor Cruz Perez Cuellar of Ciudad Juarez expressed readiness to handle a potential influx of migrants as U.S. policies under President Donald Trump

Mexico’s government has been creating shelters fit for 2,500 people each to take back deportees from the US. Several organisations said the system was unusually efficient so far, but that there was no clear additional plan for the estimated 380,000 Mexicans displaced internally by violence or the hundreds of thousands of foreigners now stuck.

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.

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.

General Jose Lemus, commander of Ciudad Juarez's military garrison, said the tunnel "must have taken a long time" to build, suggesting "it could have been one or two years".

Discovered on January 10 by US and Mexican security agencies, the tunnel measures approximately 300 meters (1,000 feet) in length on the Mexican side and is equipped with lighting, ventilation and is

"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.

in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Christian Chavez) Migrants eat at a shelter Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, in the border city of Tijuana, Mexico. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Migrants who were deported from the U.S. to Mexico are ...

The Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez is preparing for thousands of people to arrive as the Trump administration in the United States is determined to clamp down on migration. Existing shelters won't be enough — and fears are high that a humanitarian crisis could unfold.

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

Several migrants said they had recently arrived in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico after weeks of travel, only to find their CBP One appointments were cancelled.