For African migrants—especially Senegalese—who are trying to enter the United States illegally, Nicaragua has emerged as a major hub.
DAKAR — Gueva Ba made eleven unsuccessful attempts to go by boat from Morocco to Europe. Then, in 2023, this ex-welder learned about a new path to the US that involved flying to Nicaragua and traveling the remaining distance illegally overland to the northern border of Mexico.
“Everyone is talking about Nicaragua, Nicaragua, Nicaragua in Senegal,” Ba said. Ba had to pay almost $10,000 to get to the Central American country in July, with stops along the way in Morocco, Spain, and El Salvador. “It is not concealed.”
After spending over two months in jail, Ba, 40, was deported from the United States in September along with 131 other nationals; nonetheless, hundreds of Senegalese have been able to establish themselves in the country. Many rely on knowledgeable travel brokers with local knowledge who are recommended on social media by residents of the nation.
They are a part of the unprecedented wave of immigrants to the United States, which is occurring as more individuals from distant nations attempt to enter the country through its borders. Similar to how the Senegalese use this way, an increasing number of people are using social networks and applications like WhatsApp and TikTok to make arrangements, send money, and ask for assistance.
December saw record high numbers of arrests for unlawful border crossings between the United States and Mexico. Although they were lowered in January, since January 2021, they have surpassed 6.4 million. Less than 1 in 4 people are from Mexico; the remaining people are from more than 100 different nations.
According to Customs and Border Protection, between July and December, Senegalese nationals were detained 20,231 times by American authorities for attempting to enter the country illegally. This is 10 times higher than the 2,049 people detained during the same period in 2022. Numerous people enter the nation via the isolated deserts of California and Ba in western Arizona.
Early in 2023, word of the Nicaragua route spread throughout Dakar, and by May of that year, according to Abdoulaye Doucouré, the owner of a travel agency, over 1,200 tickets from the city to Nicaragua were sold for the equivalent of several thousand dollars apiece in the final three months of 2023.
“This route was unknown to many, but thanks to social media and the early migrants who used it, word spread swiftly,” he said.
Some attribute it to the nation’s political unrest, citing the 10-month delay in the presidential election in February as evidence, although word-of-mouth and social media posts appeared to play a major role in the increased interest.
Other West African countries have also seen spikes linked to social media, despite their populations’ historical preference for Europe. At the Mexican border.
Many are free in the U.S. to apply for asylum in immigration courts that have been backlogged for several years with more than 3 million cases.
Passports from many African nations carry little weight in the Western Hemisphere, making it even more difficult to start the route on foot to the United States. Senegalese can only fly visa-free to Nicaragua and Bolivia, according to Henley & Partners’ Restrictions Index. Nicaragua is much closer than Bolivia and avoids the dangerous Darien Gap in Panama.
In response to Washington’s tightening sanctions against Nicaragua’s authoritarian government, President Daniel Ortega’s administration has focused on immigration.
The authorities in Nicaragua even hired a business based in Dubai to provide civil aviation with training on how to handle national immigration processes for passengers traveling on charter flights. During June and November, over 500 planes touched down in the nation, the majority coming from the Haiti and Cuba, according to Manuel Orozco, director of the migration, remittances and development program at the Inter-American Dialogue.
However, migrants from further afield, such as Ba, arrived via a sequence of commercial planes that left from Africa and had connections. In the capital cities of the continent, migrants frequently purchase multi-stop tickets from travel agencies that go via Madrid, Spain, or Istanbul, Turkey, and pause in Bogota, Colombia, or San Salvador, El Salvador, before reaching Managua, Nicaragua. They meet with smugglers there who offer to either transport them to the Honduran border or plan their entire journey to the United States.
It remains to be seen if Nicaragua would “take a responsible role” in overseeing migration in the region as requested by the U.S. State Department. A request for comment regarding the increase in extracontinental migration through her country was not answered by Rosario Murillo, the first lady and vice president of the country.
El Salvador started charging $1,130 in October for travelers from 57 nations, the majority of which are in Africa and India, to use its airport. The majority, according to the police, are travelers on commercial aircraft operated by the Colombian carrier Avianca bound for Nicaragua.
According to Serigne Faye, who works at the Touba Express travel business in the capital of Senegal, flights from Dakar became more expensive at the end of 2023 because to the Salvadoran tax. A few travelers have chosen to travel via Bogota. Turkey has the most expensive layovers.
The backlog of cases in immigration courts allows them to remain in the United States for years and be eligible for work permits, even though the majority of asylum requests are denied.
According to data from the Justice Department, the percentage of Senegalese people granted refuge in the government fiscal year that concluded on September 30 was 26%, while the rate for other nations was 14%.
On September 25, Ousmane Anne, 34, departed Senegal with an airline ticket to Nicaragua that she had bought from a travel agency. Their journey took longer, and cost more than they had intended, lasting a month. He said that Mexico was unsafe, detailing how his group was frequently intimidated, abused, and hounded by gangs.
He wouldn’t advise the travel to anyone who is unaware of the risks, despite the excitement in his nation. Nevertheless, he made it to New York, which the census indicates has the highest concentration of Senegalese people of any metro region in the US.
“I had hope that outweighed all the challenges and difficulties, even though I knew coming to the United States wouldn’t be simple,” he remarked. “I anticipated that there would be more opportunities here.”
He was present at a Harlem event recently held by the Association of Senegalese in the United States. He gained a basic understanding of US law, Police officers gave him suggestions on how to use the health system and advised him on the dos and don’ts of riding mopeds and e-bikes, which are common in the town.
He said that he left there with more questions than answers, but he is still optimistic.
