Migrants entering US through new route popularized on social media

Thousands of West African migrants are pouring into the US after social media helped spread the word about a lesser-known, low-stakes path through Nicaragua.

Mauritanians are using WhatsApp, Instagram and other channels to guide fellow migrants along the route, which makes stops in Turkey, Colombia, El Salvador and Managua, Nicaragua, where they are whisked onto a bus by smugglers to cross the US-Mexican border, according to the Associated Press.

Nicaragua, crucially, has relaxed entry requirements that allow Mauritanians and other foreign nationals to purchase a low-cost visa without proof of onward travel.

The influx was sudden and unexpected — and comes at a time when groups of 2,000 to 3,000 a week are being allowed to legally enter the US at El Paso, Texas.

Between March and June, more than 8,500 Mauritanians arrived by crossing the border illegally from Mexico, up from just 1,000 in the four months prior, according to US Customs and Border Protection data.

The new arrivals likely now outnumber the estimated 8,000 foreign-born Mauritanians already living in the US, about half of whom are in Ohio.

“Four months ago, it just went crazy,” said Oumar Ball, who arrived in Ohio from Mauritania in 1997 and recently opened his home to dozens of other new migrants that followed the new path.

“My phone hasn’t stopped ringing.”

Unlike the massive influx of Mauritanians who arrived in the 1990s as refugees after the Arab-led military government began expelling Black citizens, the latest surge of migrants is not escaping any natural disaster, coup or sudden economic collapse, suggesting that the power of social media is reshaping migration patterns.

Travel agents have leaned into the new trend and have promoted the journey themselves on social media, including packages of flights that follow the new route.

“The American dream is still available,” one TikTok video caption read, along with an image of a Nicuragan visa.

Another video from a migrant encourages others to follow the same path: “Arrive in the USA via Nicaragua.”

Before the discovery of the new route, Mauritanians applying for asylum in the US would fly to Brazil and risk trekking through the dense jungle of the Darien Gap.

It also allows them to avoid the often-deadly boat voyages to Europe — one of which killed at least six of the 50 migrants that were crossing the English Channel last week.

The new path is not without its challenges, however.

Aissata Sall — a 23-year-old nurse who made her way to Cincinnati after discovering the Nicaragua route on WhatsApp — said she was robbed of her remaining money on a bus in Mexico by men dressed as police officers before she was hospitalized for dehydration.

“On WhatsApp they say, ‘Oh, it’s not very difficult.’ But it’s not true,” Sall said. “We confront so much pain along the way.”

Many migrants say the treacherous trip is worth it to escape reported state violence directed against Black Mauritanians that has exploded since the May death of a young Black man, Oumar Diop, in police custody.

“No matter what is your burning desire to come, if there is no route, you will not even think about it. The reality is: People are seeing a window of opportunity, that’s why they are rushing,” said Bakary Tandia, a Mauritanian activist living in New York.