The celebratory words now sting — driving home how close they came without making it and how precarious their lives are with their future more uncertain than ever, Rodriguez said while standing near the tent her family lives in at a shelter in Tijuana, a block from the towering wall marking the U.S. border.
The family is among tens of thousands of people who had appointments into February, many of them left stranded in Mexican border cities after President Donald Trump took office.
Under the Biden administration, the CBP One app facilitated the entry of nearly 1 million people since January 2023, and supporters say it helped bring order to the border and reduced illegal crossings.
At night, the family stays in the shelter's covered patio filled with roughly three dozen small tents under a giant banner that reads: “This is about humanity.” They share their tent with her Venezuelan friend and her son, the boy’s feet hanging out of the opening.
Rodriguez said gangs increasingly controlled life there, including by shuttering her children's school periodically and hiding in people's houses.
