Thousands Of Migrants Are Heading To The US, All Because A New Route Is Advertised Online

Thousands of West African migrants are making their way to the US after social media helped spread the word about a lesser-known, low-stakes path through Nicaragua.

AP

What's the new route?

Mauritanians are using WhatsApp, Instagram and other channels to guide fellow migrants along the route, which makes stops in Turkey, Colombia, El Salvador and Managua, Nicaragua, where they are whisked onto a bus by smugglers to cross the US-Mexican border, according to the Associated Press.??

How are they finding about the new route?

As word of the entry point spreads, travel agencies and paid influencers have taken to TikTok to promote the trip, selling packages of flights that leave from Mauritania, then connect through Turkey, Colombia and El Salvador, and wind up in Managua, Nicaragua. From there, the migrants, along with asylum seekers from other nations, are whisked north by bus with the help of smugglers.

The influx was sudden and unexpected — and comes at a time when groups of 2,000 to 3,000 a week are being allowed to legally enter the US at El Paso, Texas.? ??

“The American dream is still available,” promises a video on TikTok, one of dozens of similar posts from French-speaking “guides” that help Mauritanians make the trip. “Don’t put off tomorrow what you can do today.”

“We wish you success. Nicaragua loves you very much,” a man working for a travel agency says in Spanish in another video.

AP

Why is it so popular?

It has gained popularity among?Mauritanians due to relaxed entry requirements that allow them and a handful of other foreign nationals to purchase a low-cost visa without proof of onward travel.

It also allows them to avoid the often-deadly boat voyages to Europe — one of which killed at least six of the 50 migrants that were crossing the English Channel last week.The new path is not without its challenges, however.

Aissata Sall — a 23-year-old nurse who made her way to Cincinnati after discovering the Nicaragua route on WhatsApp — said she was robbed of her remaining money on a bus in Mexico by men dressed as police officers before she was hospitalized for dehydration.

“On WhatsApp they say, ‘Oh, it’s not very difficult.’ But it’s not true,” Sall said. “We confront so much pain along the way.”

AP

Between March and June, more than 8,500 Mauritanians arrived by crossing the border illegally from Mexico, up from just 1,000 in the four months prior, according to US Customs and Border Protection data.The new arrivals likely now outnumber the estimated 8,000 foreign-born Mauritanians already living in the US, about half of whom are in Ohio.

“No matter what is your burning desire to come, if there is no route, you will not even think about it. The reality is: People are seeing a window of opportunity, that’s why they are rushing,” said Bakary Tandia, a Mauritanian activist living in New York.