The banks of the Rio Grande river separating Mexico and the United States look almost deserted, and formerly overcrowded migrant shelters are half empty — a consequence of tougher US immigration policies in an election year. The change reflects not only the success of US deterrence, but also heated rhetoric ahead of next week’s closely fought US presidential election in which immigration is a hugely divisive issue. Fearing harsher punishments for illegal entry and the ever-present risk of dying in the hands of human smugglers, many migrants have instead chosen to wait for an appointment to seek asylum before arriving at the US-Mexico border. The number of US border patrol encounters with migrants crossing over from Mexico illegally fell to around 54,000 in September, from a peak of nearly 250,000 in December, according to the US government. US President Joe Biden issued an order in June to shut the border to asylum seekers after certain daily limits. Jorluis Ocando was one of those who initially planned to sneak across after making the dangerous journey from Venezuela. “But when I arrived everything was complicated,” said the 28-year-old, one of the almost eight million Venezuelans who have left their crisis-hit country. “It’s better to enter legally,” he said after reaching El Paso, Texas, just across the border from Mexico’s Ciudad Juarez. Ocando obtained an appointment to request asylum using a cellphone application called CBP One, becoming one of around 1,500 migrants who are attended to daily by US authorities at eight border points with Mexico. But “there’s a lot of talk on social media that if a new government comes in, it’s going to get rid of CBP One,” he said. Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump has threatened the largest mass deportation of undocumented migrants in US history if he defeats his Democratic rival Kamala Harris next Tuesday. Ocando counts himself lucky that having survived various threats along the way, he managed to enter the United States at an official border crossing just days before the election. “I’ve made it, thank God,” he said. Some other migrants said the fear of dying trying to cross the border spurred them to seek an appointment through the app.