i mean, you have migrants who made a very long journey to get to that point. that s the end. the thousands and thousands and thousands of people that you see at the u.s. border right now. ten days, two weeks ago, they were here in southern mexico, moving through this area in a way that immigration activists tell me they ve never really seen before. a packed street in southern mexico resembling something out of port-au-prince. hundreds of haitian migrants fill the sidewalks of the city. this is often a stop for those traveling north to the u.s., but the amount of haitians making that journey right now, both government officials and activists say, is unprecedented. we ve seen lots of migration before, says figueroa, but never this many people from haiti. it is unbelievable. nearly 19,000 haitians and counting have applied for asylum in mexico this year. already three times higher than all of 2020. but for many, asylum claims won t keep them here.