Migration crisis in the Americas

What is the Central American migration crisis?

Every year, hundreds of thousands of people from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras flee extreme violence and poverty and head north through Mexico to find safety. The high levels of violence in the region, known as the Northern Triangle of Central America (NTCA), are comparable to that in war zones where MSF has worked for decades.

The countries of the NTCA have long been burdened by deep social inequality, political instability, and conflict—and in some cases have been further destabilized by US interventions in the region over the past 40 years. Now these countries are also contending with the rapid expansion of transnational organized crime, which has exploded over the past decade. Across this region, drug and human trafficking by criminal groups known as maras, coupled with widespread corruption and weak law enforcement, have resulted in an environment where civilians face the ever-present threat of violence.

Gang-related murders, kidnappings, extortion, and sexual violence are daily facts of life. “In my country, killing is ordinary—it is as easy as killing an insect with your shoe,” said one man from Honduras, who was threatened by gang members for refusing their demand for protection money, and later shot three times.

In recent years, more migrants have been coming from as far away as Africa or Asia. In Mexico, the number of extracontinental migrants from Africa or Asia encountering authorities irregularly has skyrocketed from 17,044 cases in 2022 to 92,163 in 2023 and 88,956 in 2024, according to Mexico’s Migration Policy Unit. These figures indicate that extracontinental migration is now a significant demographic factor along the migration route in the Americas.

How MSF is helping people on the move in Central America and at the US-Mexico border?

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been supporting people migrating across Latin America for over a decade, particularly in Mexico, a country whose northern border with the United States is the last stage in a long and dangerous route. MSF teams provide primary health care, mental health support, social services, health promotion, and intercultural mediation along the migration route through Latin America. We currently also run projects in Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, and Colombia.

Snapshot: Migration in the Americas

Working with migrants in Latin America is complex because many have suffered acute and recurrent episodes of violence. The journey is fraught with dangers, from the rugged and dangerous Darién Gap to organized crime in Mexico, gangs in Central America, and corrupt law enforcement agents. At MSF, we provide care for a variety of reasons, from muscle injuries sustained immigrant caravans to restorative therapy for patients with chronic diseases. Many patients also have invisible wounds: the psychological trauma of kidnappings, threats, torture, extortion, and sexual violence.

 To give perspective: Between January 2024 and February 2025, our teams along the route treated nearly 3,000 victims and survivors of sexual violence. That works out to one every three hours. They also provided more than 20,000 individual mental health consultations, many triggered by violence. The violence can be so extreme that we treat patients who have completely lost their autonomy and functionality. Many are also fleeing crises or dangers in their home countries, such as the economic crisis in Venezuela, conflict in Colombia, or a general lack of opportunities and exclusion.