Title 42 shifted attitudes about migration – south of US border

Mexico was never a “migration nation” like the U.S. But American policy written during the pandemic has caused a bottleneck at the border – and forced Mexicans to rethink their obligations to migrants.

Eleven-year-old Melissa sits in a yellow schoolhouse on the outskirts of Tijuana, joining the chorus of voices answering a teacher who instructs the class on long division.

While dividing 5,789 by 3 might be tedious for some, Melissa says she’s thrilled to crunch numbers. It’s been almost six months since she and her family fled home – and her studies – in the western Mexican state of Michoacán due to violent threats and relentless extortion.

Her family has been languishing in a migrant shelter, waiting to get an appointment with United States officials to request asylum – a disheartening reality for millions of migrants in northern Mexican border cities over the past three years, since the U.S. issued Title 42. But the shelter pivoted to address this growing need, opening the school, and making this limbo just a little easier on kids like Melissa.

“I’m learning again,” she says, grinning.