By Nicole Acevedo, from NBC Newsand Albinson Linares

MEXICO CITY.- Migrants who have been trapped at Mexico’s northern border for months hoping to enter the United States are increasingly vulnerable to misinformation after the deadly fire at a run detention center by the government which has killed at least 39 people this week.

More than 1,000 migrants lined up at international bridges in El Paso, Texas on Wednesday afternoon after false reports spread on social media and by word of mouth that the United States would allow entry into the country.

The migrants, mostly Venezuelans, ‘surrendered’ to US authorities, according to tweeted Border Patrol Chief Agent Anthony ‘Scott’ Bien. Most of them, including Venezuelans, will not be able to seek asylum in the United States when crossing the border, under current immigration policies.

The incident prompted the United States Consulate in Ciudad Juárez to share a social media post in spanish with a message for migrants: “Make no mistake”.

“Rumors of the border opening after the Ciudad Juárez tragedy are completely false. Law enforcement policies and security measures to restrict undocumented access to the United States are still in effect. The border is closed to irregular migration”.

The United States has expanded the use of a pandemic-related policy known as Title 42 to deport migrants crossing the border. On May 11, the policy will be replaced with one that largely bars asylum to anyone who has crossed into Mexico without first seeking protection there.

“You Can’t Compete With Hope”

Betty Camargo, director of state programs for the Border Network for Human Rights, said she was in contact Wednesday with a migrant who was taking a group to the border in hopes that they would be allowed to enter the United States. United.

The migrant told Camargo that many felt angry, scared and insecure after the fire at the temporary immigration station in Ciudad Juárez killed 39 people and injured dozens more in one of the tragedies deadliest migrant cases near the US-Mexico border in recent years. .

“We try to explain to them that the rumors aren’t true, but sometimes you can’t compete with hope,” Camargo said.

This is not the first time that misinformation has caused large numbers of migrants to show up at various US ports of entry.Two weeks ago, large groups of migrants clashed with federal agents at the international bridge Paso del Norte, which connects Ciudad Juárez and El Paso.

At the time, Camilo Cruz, spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration, a United Nations agency, attributed the gathering of migrants to a “rumor that they were going to let them through en masse, especially those arriving with children”. reported the Associated Press.

[“Este incendio es el resultado de la olla de presión en la que se ha convertido Ciudad Juárez en el tema migratorio”, denuncian expertos]

Blanca Navarrete, director of Comprehensive Human Rights in Actiona Ciudad Juárez-based organization that provides services to migrants, said a Peruvian woman who heard rumors and acted on the false information passed by their office on Wednesday halfway through her trip to El Paso .

The woman and her son had been walking for so long that the boy’s last pair of shoes had broken and he couldn’t go on. Navarrete told the woman that the rumors that the United States was going to let everyone in were not true.

The activist says the rumor started after an anonymous user posted the message on a Facebook group used by migrants trying to navigate CBP One, an app asylum seekers must use to be screened and then get appointments with specific dates and ports of entry in the United States. . The message was spread by WhatsApp and by word of mouth.

Problems with the CBP One app have also created a sense of desperation among many migrant families trying to get asylum appointments. Gabriela Muñoz Cano, project manager at the Las Americas Defense Center in Ciudad Juárez, said she knows families who have been trying to get an appointment through the app since January.

According to Muñoz Cano, while lacking the resources to stay safe in Ciudad Juárez, migrants are increasingly vulnerable to misinformation about how to get to the United States. Scammers posing as lawyers are asking them for money to supposedly help them get an appointment on the app, he said. However, getting appointments through CBP One is free.

“Many lies are told”

While Facebook can help migrants stay in touch and get information throughout their journey, it’s also where misinformation targeting migrants at the border flourishes, especially in Spanish.

Last year, the Tech Transparency Project identified two Facebook groups, with the same moderator, that generated “a steady stream of content aimed at migrants in Mexico.”

[Migrantes que se salvaron de morir en el incendio en Ciudad Juárez relatan las horas antes de la tragedia]

It also detected “an abundance of posts spreading misinformation about immigration law, conditions along the route to the United States, and opportunities for migrants to the United States”, particularly on Facebook. and WhatsApp.

This type of disinformation reached the social networks of Carmen González, a 23-year-old Venezuelan. González said she and other friends began their trip from Venezuela to Mexico after seeing a news report that falsely claimed that Venezuelans could enter the United States without being deported.

“You always see things on Instagram and Facebook, there they tell us to travel, that people are going to the United States,” said González, who is in Ciudad Juárez. “And you get excited and then you go on a trip, you spend a lot of work and then they won’t let you in up north,” he explains dejectedly.

“I tell people not to believe what they read on Facebook, because there are a lot of lies there,” González says.

“People are completely misinformed because they see posts on Facebook or because they find out something works for someone and they hit the road with no immigration papers and no plans,” he said. said Lorena Cano, coordinator of the legal clinic of the Institute for Women in Migration, a civil association that defends the rights of migrant women.

[Activistas denuncian las condiciones inhumanas en los centros de detención en México: hacinamiento e instalaciones deficientes]

In February, large groups of migrants showed up at a specific point near the US-Canada border after false reports emerged that the two countries had reached an agreement and that the US would take the migrants to bus to Canada.

The false information first appeared on social media and was then spread, according to Camargo, by someone who visited the shelters and even by another person the migrants describe as an immigration officer. . When many migrants showed up at the point, they realized that was not true.

“They are playing with their lives,” Camargo said. “Not only are they taking away their right to migrate from migrants, but little by little they are taking away their hope.”

Nicole Acevedo reported from New York and Albinson Linares from Mexico City.