This investigation was produced in partnership with Rolling Stone and the Marguerite Casey Foundation.
As more migrants self-deport and turn around before they get to the U.S. border, Paola Ramos investigates what happens when migrants stop looking to America as a land of safety and opportunity. Ramos, reporting in partnership with Rolling Stone, traveled to Costa Rica and Panama to witness the growing trend of reverse migration up-close. She spoke with migrants, including 37-year-old Edinson, the de-facto leader of a group from Venezuela, as they navigated the arduous journey home—and traced the dissolution of the American dream.
A year ago, such reverse migration would have been unimaginable. In 2024, during the Biden administration, more than 300,000 northbound migrants traversed the Darién Gap—the deadly spit of land linking North and South America via Central America. Now, the Darién is effectively closed. According to the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, only 2,831 people crossed the Darién between January and March 2025, representing a 98 percent decrease compared with 2024. Instead, thousands of migrants are giving up their hopes of living in the United States, and are venturing south instead.
“When the border with the U.S. closed, everyone’s dreams stopped existing,” Edinson told Ramos.
Watch the documentary video below, and read the article here.