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By Annie Corréal
Photographs through Federico Ríos
Reporting from Bogota, Colombia.
With record numbers of people crossing the border into the United States, the southern border is not the only position where the migration crisis is at stake.
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Nearly 5,000 miles south inside Colombia’s main outer airport, thousands of African migrants arrive each day, paying smugglers about $10,000 for package flights they hope will help them succeed in the United States.
The influx of African migrants to Bogota’s airport, which began last year, is a clear example of the impact of one of the largest global movements of people in decades and how it is transforming migration patterns.
As some African countries face economic crises and political turmoil, and Europe cracks down on immigration, more and more Africans are embarking on a much longer adventure to the United States.
Immigrants in Bogota come mainly from West African countries such as Guinea, Mauritania, Senegal and Sierra Leone, some come from as far east as Somalia.
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