Migrants struggle back across Latin America after Trump shuts asylum door: ‘It’s hard to know what to do’

US policy shift leaves 300,000 in limbo retrace perilous journeys south, searching for stability

Two small scars on either side of his left thigh remind Mario Torres of the worst day he has had during the two-plus years he has spent on the road crisscrossing Latin America searching for a stable life.

Torres fled Venezuela in 2018, when he was just 18 years old. After a stint in Colombia and Peru, he lived in Chile for four years. When cost-of-living increases started to make life less tenable, he decided to leave in September 2024 and head towards the United States. Torres rode buses, boats and trains, and also walked, crossing nine countries – a journey that took months.

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