During its first six months in office, the current administration of the United States (US) has implemented the most restrictive and dehumanising migration policy the Americas has seen in years. This has left hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom were hoping to seek asylum in the US, abandoned in Mexico and across Central America, says a new report by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

The report, Unwelcome: The devastating human impact of migration policy changes in the United States, Mexico and Central America, highlights how the US government’s policies and rhetoric criminalising migration have echoed throughout Latin America. MSF calls on all governments across the Americas to renounce deterrence and abandonment tactics and instead implement humane policies that ensure access to asylum, medical care, and protection along the Latin American migration corridor.

Released today, the report showcases how recent policy changes have eroded the right to seek asylum and left many migrants and asylum seekers stranded with nowhere safe to go, trapping them in a cycle of physical, emotional, and institutional violence. The report is based on analysis of MSF medical data, in-depth interviews with patients of many nationalities in various stages of migration, and interviews with MSF staff working along the migration route in Panama, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico.