Refugees gathered by the hundreds in camps in Ciudad Juárez, on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande, waiting for a chance to get to the United States. But as President-elect Donald J. Trump prepares to take office on Monday, few people can be found this past week at the corners that have just begun.

All that was left were the extinguished fire, discarded shoes, shirts and toothbrushes.

Only one Mexican city has reported similar cases along the border with the United States, where the number of immigrants has slowed in recent months. The decline was largely due to restrictions imposed by the Biden administration as well as Mexican and Panamanian officials seeking to curb immigration.

While President Biden faced many challenges during his re-election bid to end immigration, he delivered in June. a general rule effectively stop undocumented immigrants from receiving asylum. In the same month, US border officials recorded 83,532 illegal crossings, a sharp drop from 117,905 the previous month.

Despite the decline, illegal crossings are still higher than during Mr. others Democrats in Congress, for more information very much restrictions on immigration to the United States.

Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota, Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security, told lawmakers on Friday that she wants to restore Trump-era policies forcing asylum seekers to stay in Mexico for the duration of their US criminal cases and temporarily reduce them. immigration assistance for people from countries experiencing conflict.

“Border security should be a priority,” Ms. Noem said.

Some officials in Latin America are pushing back, saying that stricter restrictions on both sides of the border have helped solve the problem.

“The flow of migrants from southern Mexico to the border has decreased in the last few months,” said Enrique Serrano Escobar, who heads the Chihuahua State office that manages the reception of migrants. “No problem,” said Ciudad Juárez. “No problem.”

Today’s quiet border contrasts with recent years of frequent border disasters, including family separations 2023 fire in the Ciudad Juárez prison that killed so many people.

Thousands of people are still trying to travel north even as authorities on both sides of the border tighten restrictions. But on the whole, the journey through the Darién Gap, an unstable bridge connecting North and South America, and the settlements in US-Mexico border cities like Ciudad Juárez and Matamoros have been signs of the growing migration.

“Usually, we have about 150,” said Lucio Torres, who has been managing a shelter in Nuevo Laredo, across the Rio Grande, for three years. The lodge can accommodate up to 300 people. This week, it only seats seven.

Mr. Serrano Escobar said that the refugee shelters run by the government and public agencies in Ciudad Juárez, which has about 3,000 refugees, are currently only about 40 percent full. “The city is quiet,” he added.

In November, more than 46,000 people crossed the border illegally. the lowest number during the Biden administration. In December there were 47,000 illegal crossings. By comparison, in December 2023, illegal crossings exceeded a record of nearly 250,000.

Mexico’s security forces said they would arrest more than 475,000 people in the last quarter of 2024. That’s about a 68 percent increase compared to the same period last year, according to government data.

Solsiree Petit, 44, a Venezuelan teacher in Ciudad Juárez, said she has breast tumors that require surgery. He said his sons, ages 10 and 17, surrendered to US authorities for asylum about a week ago. He said he made an appointment with US Customs and Border Protection in El Paso to submit his asylum application on Jan. 29.

He said he hoped his nomination would still be honored under the Trump administration. “I prefer not to think otherwise,” he said, “because it makes you very weak.”

CBP One, the phone app Ms. Petit used to schedule her appointment, allowed U.S. immigration officials to process nearly 44,000 immigrants in December at ports of entry.

While the Biden administration created the program to discourage immigrants from entering the country illegally, Noem, who was appointed by Homeland Security, said he would stop using the program, raising concerns among Republicans that it was being used to allow immigrants to enter the country. a country that should be banned from entering.

Similar to the calm seen in Ciudad Juárez, the Pumarejo building in Matamoros, which can hold 1,500 people, currently has only 260, according to security officials. In Tijuana, three popular shopping centers showed they were 50 percent full.

Guatemala City is no longer home to migrants from the north, said Karina López, a social worker at the city’s Casa del Migrante. A few years ago, the shelter was struggling to care for more than 3,000 exhausted people with more than 100 beds. These numbers are unknown today, said Ms. López. This is because people only have a few hours left to reach the border before it opens, he said.

Fears of violence and extortion are also thought to be keeping some refugees from fleeing crime-ridden safe havens in Mexico. Instead of fleeing there, some are choosing to stay with friends, in rented rooms or with smugglers as they try to cross the border, legally or illegally.

“I don’t care if the devil is on my way, I’m going forward,” said Juan Hernández, a worker in Honduras. Mr. Hernández, 45, said he has lived in the United States for 23 years and has been deported five times. He arrived six months ago in Monterrey, a major industrial center in northeastern Mexico, after being deported from Honduras after being convicted in North Carolina of driving under the influence.

She said she plans to cross the border again soon to be reunited with her two children who live in Raleigh, NC.

For now, immigrants like Mr. Hernández seem to be few and far between. Recently in the center of Guatemala City, the streets were filled with people begging for change or food for their children, many of them carrying the Venezuelan flag. This week, they were absent.

In the Darién Gap, the number of migrants dropped sharply after the Panamanian government imposed stricter restrictions to accommodate the new rescue policies of the Biden administration.

Two years ago, boats full of people trying to reach the jungle left every day from Necoclí, a coastal town in Colombia at the very end of the jungle. Migrants often film the boat trips and share the photos on social media, where they represent the final destination of the migrants. security minutes before entering the dangerous forest of the Darién Gap.

Now, days go by when there are not enough migrants to fill one boat. In fact, the boats depart every two or three days and are not always full.

In August 2023, more than 80,000 people passed through Darién in one month. In December, fewer than 5,000 people crossed, according to Panamanian officials.

However, as Trump’s inauguration approaches, smugglers will continue to encourage migrants to cross the border to avoid potential harm. Fearing it could be their last chance to get to the United States, some have asked friends to lend them money or give their home documents to smugglers as collateral, security officials said.

One route offered by smugglers and called the “VIP route” sends migrants from Guatemala to Cancún, Mexico, by land, and from Cancún to Ciudad Juárez by plane using fake Mexican passports, according to Ms. López, a social worker. . The price of a one-way flight increased by about $450 this week.

After the launch, the price drops to around $100.

Reports were contributed by Annie Correal from Guatemala City; Julie Turkewitz from Bogotá, Colombia; Chantal Flores from Monterrey, Mexico; Edira Espriella from Matamoros, Mexico; Aline Corpus from Tijuana, Mexico; and Emiliano Rodriguez Mega and Rocio Gallegos from Mexico City.