Did the Mayor of Tijuana Wear a Make Tijuana Great Again Hat

A few hundred people gathered in Tijuana's loftier-end Rio expanse on Lord's day to protest confronting groups migrating from Central American countries. James Fredrick for NPR hide caption

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James Fredrick for NPR

A few hundred people gathered in Tijuana'southward high-stop Rio area on Sunday to protest confronting groups migrating from Central American countries.

James Fredrick for NPR

The message for the migrant caravan was clear from marchers on Sunday in Tijuana, United mexican states: Nosotros don't desire you here.

"We want the caravan to go; they are invading u.s.a.," said Patricia Reyes, a 62-year-former protester, hiding from the sunday nether an umbrella. "They should have come into Mexico correctly, legally, merely they came in like animals."

A few hundred Tijuanenses gathered in the city's high-end Rio area to protest the groups migrating from Key American countries.

Demonstrators held signs reading "No illegals," "No to the invasion" and "United mexican states First." Many wore the country's cherry-red, white and green national soccer jersey and vigorously waved Mexican flags. The crowd often slipped into chants of "Ti-jua-na!" and "Me-xi-co!" They sang the national anthem several times.

The march is a foreboding sign for the migrants who have formed caravans to cross Mexico in hopes of reaching the Us. Many, merely non all, of the migrants have come to Tijuana, which borders San Diego, to request asylum in the U.Southward. They come up primarily from Honduras, though some are from other Cardinal American countries. A number of the aviary-seekers say they can't return dwelling after receiving threats from street gangs such as MS-13 and the 18th Street gang, as well every bit threats from government figures in their countries.

But that process could take months, and the Trump administration is working to block them from entering with new rules to limit asylum.

While the protesters numbered only a few hundred, in a metropolis of more than 1.vi million, vitriol against the migrants has spread across social media in Tijuana in recent days.

"They should create concentration and deportation camps with federal funds," wrote one commenter on the Facebook page organizing the march.

"Tijuana is a place that welcomes anyone, but you must have papers, you must place yourself," demonstrator Magdalena Baltazar said on Sunday, as she waved a Mexican flag and marched through the city. "Nosotros piece of work difficult here. We don't get handouts. The government shouldn't be giving things to migrants when plenty of Mexicans are in a difficult position."

Most of the protesters said the migrants should be detained and deported.

The marchers had intended to head to the mayor's office to demand action only, as police cars raced ahead to block intersections, many protesters veered off, heading toward a shelter where more than ii,500 migrants are staying, according to Tijuana city officials.

Many in Tijuana, nevertheless, are angered by the demonstrators' anti-immigrant sentiment.

"F****** racists!" shouted a man from a street corner.

"Say that to my face," a protester yelled back.

A few blocks ahead, a family stood on a balustrade and shouted at the protesters.

"This is non what Tijuana is like!" cried an elderly woman. "All migrants are welcome here!"

A block away from the shelter, local police in riot gear set up a barricade. Some marchers yelled, shoved and threw water at the officers, but they could non advance.

Police stand guard to protect a migrant shelter as demonstrators protest the presence of thousands of Fundamental American migrants in Tijuana, Mexico, on Sunday. Rodrigo Abd/AP hide caption

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Rodrigo Abd/AP

Police force stand guard to protect a migrant shelter as demonstrators protest the presence of thousands of Central American migrants in Tijuana, Mexico, on Dominicus.

Rodrigo Abd/AP

Police kept the migrants within the shelter to avoid disharmonize. The but sign of the march from inside was afar shouting and horns.

Carlos González, a migrant from Honduras, angled a picayune mirror to get a view of the protest down the block.

"What practice they intend to do?" he asked. "In that location are women and children in here."

The sit-in thinned out over the next few hours. But it left some migrants startled.

"We don't know why they came here. I don't know what we did to offend them, so what are we supposed to practise?" said Jesús Uribe, from Nicaragua. "This is the start fourth dimension I've felt this in Mexico. Mexicans have been very welcoming to usa."

Tijuana's mayor hasn't helped ease tensions over the migrants.

"I would cartel say that non all of them are migrants," Mayor Juan Manuel Gastélum said final calendar week in an interview with Milenio telly, suggesting some members of the caravan were criminal infiltrators. "Sure, at that place are some adept people in the caravan, simply many are very bad for the city."

Gastélum said four alleged members of the caravan had been arrested for unspecified crimes.

"Human being rights are for but upstanding humans," he said, creating a perverse plow of phrase in Castilian.

The Tijuana mayor has been seen sporting a Trump-style "Make Tijuana Dandy Once more" hat. Merely Gastélum is non a popular leader: A poll in March gave him but 4 percent approval from residents. The murder rate in the metropolis has spiked during his tenure.

The Tijuana city authorities is providing a stadium for the migrant shelter, equally well equally blankets, sleeping pads, food and some basic medical care. Nonprofit humanitarian groups are adding to that support.

Merely Gastélum says Tijuana lacks the funds to keep supporting the migrants, who he thinks volition be in the city for more than 6 months to be processed through the U.South. asylum system, and has requested support from Mexico's federal government.

The tensions are unlikely to die down soon: Co-ordinate to nonprofits at shelters in the border city Mexicali, 2,000 caravan members are expected to go far in Tijuana in coming days. Some other caravan of roughly 1,500 migrants is merely northward of Mexico City, according to a human rights committee that fix a shelter in the capital. Smaller contingents continue in southern Mexico.

Fifty-fifty earlier the caravan reached the city before this calendar month, migrants in Tijuana created an breezy list of names to keep track of those hoping to seek asylum in the U.Due south. Equally caravan members accept added their names, the list recently surpassed 3,000.

"I'g not sure what nosotros're going to do," said Cristian Menéndez, a 32-year-old Honduran, traveling with his girlfriend and her two children. "We all know we desire to asking aviary but I haven't heard about the list. We don't know how long this will have. Nosotros don't know how long in that location will be nutrient for u.s. to eat."

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Source: https://www.npr.org/2018/11/19/669193788/shouting-mexico-first-hundreds-in-tijuana-march-against-migrant-caravan