A recent Doctors Without Borders comic strip details the brutal realities of extracontinental migration in the Americas. 

On Foot was written and illustrated by Hugo Gonzalez for Doctors Without Borders in an effort to raise awareness of the myriad dangers that migrants from Africa and Asia face daily as they cross the continent. 

The tale is based on true stories of extracontinental migration. Styled as a conversation with a Doctors Without Borders (MSF, by its French initials) aid worker, it recounts the journey of a young woman from the Democratic Republic of Congo who flees with her eleven-year-old son after her husband is kidnapped. The pair first escape to Angola before taking a bus to Ethiopia and then flying to Brazil.

From Brazil, they travel by bus to Bolivia before continuing on to Peru, Ecuador and Colombia, where they cross the Darién Gap. During their difficult journey, they experience violence and sexual assault. Upon arriving in Mexico City, however, they’re able to connect with MSF, which helps them apply for asylum in the United States. 

Extracontinental migration is on the rise, with tens of thousands of migrants from Africa and Asia traveling through Latin America. Mexico’s Migration Policy Unit recorded over 92,000 such migrants in 2023 — a staggering 440% increase from the year before, according to MSF. Many are fleeing war, violence, extreme poverty, or persecution, and the journey can often take years. 

Restrictive policies in Europe have contributed to thousands of deaths in the Mediterranean: MSF’s press release notes that over the past ten years, more than 30,000 people have drowned or disappeared. This has pushed migrants to seek alternative paths to safety, often at greater risk and over much longer distances.

MSF teams are delivering medical care, mental health support, social services, and cultural mediation throughout the migration route in Latin America.

Call for humane policies

Last year in Mexico City, the organization treated 83 extracontinental patients from 17 countries — many with urgent medical and psychological needs. They also documented more than 145 cases of sexual violence, which was almost double the previous year.

In January, as the comic strip notes, the Trump administration scrapped the CBP One app, which was designed to help streamline the immigration process. The app’s elimination has caused the cancellation of appointments that were already booked, leaving countless migrants stranded in Mexico.

“MSF believes that our principles of impartiality and neutrality are not synonymous with silence,” the comic’s epilogue reads. 

“[…] In the Americas, where US migration policies have put thousands of already vulnerable people traversing the Latin American migration corridor at even greater risk, we have repeatedly called for humane policies and the establishment of protection mechanisms to safeguard their health, safety, and dignity.”