Over the past decade, African migrants have blazed a trail to the U.S. — and it runs through Central America and Mexico. But in 2019, under pressure from the U.S., Mexico’s government began freezing African migrants at its southern border with Guatemala. This left thousands of migrants in a state of uncertainty over residence and legal status and left to find a new way of life in tent cities and makeshift housing as they clung to hopes of making their way to the U.S.

Video courtesy of Newsy and Chidinma Irene Nwoye, producer, writer, researcher and multi-platform storyteller with nearly a decade of professional journalism and reporting experience in print and digital media.