In McAllen, Texas and in the Mexican city of Reynosa, where migrants prepare to cross the Rio Grande, numbers seeking asylum in the US are down. But the president’s hard line and harsh rhetoric may not be enough to quell the desperate and threatened for long.

“Yes, he has succeeded,” told The Guardian Hector Joaquin Silva de Luna, who runs the the Senda de Vida shelter in Reynosa. “The numbers have fallen. People are afraid.”

According to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data, 12,193 people were apprehended on the US-Mexico border in March, the lowest number since fiscal year 2000. That represents a 64% decline from the same month last year. The plunge began in January, when Trump was inaugurated.

There are, however, two problems with this policy of fear: it is worsening a humanitarian crisis by exposing people to abduction, extortion and murder and it may stop working.

In addition, the number of people applying for asylum in Mexico has spiked by more than 150% since Trump entered the White House, a sign of waning hope of finding sanctuary in the US.

As reported in The Guardian.