City of Tijuana decides it’s time to move migrant campsite from border
A makeshift camp of migrants sits at the border port of entry leading to the United States, Wednesday, March 17, 2021, in Tijuana, Mexico. The migrant camp shows how confusion has undercut the message from U.S. President Joe Biden that it’s not the time to come to the United States. Badly misinformed, some 1,500 migrants who set up tents across the border from San Diego harbor false hope that Biden will open entry briefly and without notice. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
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TIJUANA (Border Report) — In an effort to protect migrant families, Tijuana officials have announced plans to move a makeshift camp from the border to another part of the city.
José Luis Pérez Canchola, the city’s director of migrant affairs, has said the asylum seekers will be moved to a sports complex a few miles away in the near future.
According to Pérez Canchola, there is no more room for migrants who keep showing up at the migrant campsite just south of the San Ysidro Port of Entry. He says the biggest concern is the more than 500 children at the site.
Some estimates place the camp’s population at 1,500. Most are from Central American, Haiti and Cuba.
They began moving there as a way to “get in line” back in February, believing President Joe Biden would let them cross into the U.S.
Biden had said only those with pending asylum cases would be allowed north of the border. People at the campsite don’t have any cases pending or have been given access to register.
“The situation has been getting worse, especially when it comes to the living conditions. What worries the city most is the presence of the kids; there’s a lot of babies who have been born in Mexico whom we are now supporting to make sure they have things like a birth certificate,” Pérez Canchola said.
“Some of the migrants have already opted to leave the area and move into shelters, however, for the families that remain, we will insist they abandon the site next to the international border and head for the sports complex, which is available,” he said
Pérez Canchola is telling the migrants they will be safer at this location.
“This proposal offers better security for the migrants who have been waiting for an answer from authorities north of the border about whether they’ll be able to cross, we need to convince them that they need to stop camping out, there’s a lot of risks involved.”
