For years, Senegalese wanting to migrate looked to Europe & France, with thousands attempting very dangerous routes via small boats.
Recently, word has been spreading of an alternative route towards their dreamed of opportunity: the United States of America.
Gueva Ba, alias Baye Fall, 40, was informed of this new route via Nicaragua last year.
"In Senegal, it's all over the streets, everyone's talking about Nicaragua, Nicaragua, Nicaragua. It's not something hidden. When I heard that, I did my investigations, started following the live (on social networks), little by little, I'm taking steps to find out about the people selling the tickets," he said.
In July 2023, the Senegalese professional welder raised around 6 million CFA francs (over $9,000) to start his journey to the United States.
"I flew from Senegal to Nicaragua, made a stopover in Morocco, after another stopover in Spain, after a stopover in Salvador and landed in Nicaragua. It was from there that the route to the United States of America became clandestine."
Gueva Ba was arrested at the border between the United States of America and Mexico before spending almost two months in detention in the United States of America.
He was finally repatriated to Senegal with over a hundred other Senegalese migrants in September 2023.
While Ba spent time in prison in the States before being repatriated to Dakar, this is not the case for many of the migrants who were with him on the migration route.
Some were luckier than he, he says.
Despite trying 11 times to reach Europe via Morocco he says he will try again if he can't make a living in Senegal.
Migrants arrests
More than 9,000 Senegalese have been arrested crossing the Arizona border from October 1 to December 9 last year, a significant rise over previous months.
In Senegal, offers of plane tickets to Nicaragua are found on numerous Facebook pages and shared telephone numbers lead to travel agencies well-established in Dakar.
Abdoulaye Doucouré has specialized in selling tickets to Nicaragua.
Business is booming.
"I can say that from October to December 2023, about 1,200 people (migrants) passed through my agency and each person paid a maximum of 3,500,00 CFA francs ($583.47) for a plane ticket from Dakar to Nicaragua," Doucouré said.
Doucouré's proposed itinerary is perfectly legal.
"Senegalese can travel (by plane) via Casablanca (Morocco)-Madrid-Madrid-Salvador-Nicaragua without a transit visa or other transit fees, which is not the case for other (African) nationalities such as Malians (for example), who require a visa."
Migration is an old phenomenon in Senegalese society.
The clandestine migration route via Nicaragua to the US is less dangerous than crossing the sea to Europe, but it is expensive and so not open to everyone.
This new migration route seems to be practiced more by layers of young migrants who have earned money in Dakar.
"The American dream is already in the making for the Senegalese. That's what we call 'success in Dakar,'" explains Professor Aly Tandia, CEO of the NGO, Senegalese Observatory of migrants.
"For many of these young people who want to go to the United States, they've already taken the first step, because they come from the interior of the country, and they've managed to make their mark in Dakar, so they've taken the first step before going to the United States."
Social media seems to play a major role in promoting connectivity between migrants and smugglers, and migrants learn from the experiences of those who have made the journey before them and then share their knowledge on social networks.
"Would-be migrants need guarantees, and these guarantees are provided by social networks through WhatsApp groups, through Snapchat, Tik Tok, Facebook. I think that these people who are mobilizing a lot of money to leave need guarantees, and social networks seem to be an insurance policy," Tandia added.
The growing number of plane tickets being offered on social media suggests that the number of Senegalese illegal immigrants hoping to reach the US via Nicaragua in 2024 is set to rise, the Associated Press reported.
Forum