Shelters are filled to the brim on both sides of the US-Mexico border with people seeking asylum in the United States. The US government says there have been at least 230,000 encounters with migrants since August. Families and other groups have waded through the Rio Grande to eventually get across. They are part of a wave of people making the dangerous trek through Central America. So, what do their journeys look like and why are they happening now? 

In this episode: 

• John Holman (@johnholman100), Al Jazeera correspondent

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Ashish Malhotra, Sonia Bhagat and our host Malika Bilal. Sarí el-Khalili and Amy Walters fact-checked this episode.

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our lead of audience development and engagement is Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad is our engagement producer.

Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.

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