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    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    More migrants stay in Mexicali as city braces for second caravan arrival

    More migrants stay in Mexicali as city braces for second caravan arrival

    Rafael Carranza, Arizona RepublicPublished 5:00 a.m. MT Nov. 22, 2018 | Updated 3:42 p.m. MT Nov. 22, 2018

    Hundreds more migrants arrived to the already-crowded shelter in Tijuana late Tuesday night. The shelter is over-capacity. Nick Oza, The Republic | azcentral.com




    (Photo: Nick Oza, for USA TODAY)



    MEXICALI — With the situation in neighboring Tijuana reaching a critical point as thousands of migrants traveling in a caravan have crammed into shelters in that city, a growing number of them are opting instead to remain in Mexicali, another border community and the capital of Baja California state.

    Government officials, as well as community and advocacy groups, have been talking to the nearly 1,000 migrants who remain in the city, trying to convince them to stay put and avoid Tijuana.


    But those plans could be thwarted by a second caravan expected to arrive in Mexicali as soon as Wednesday night, reflecting a fluid situation that changes rapidly, day to day.


    "We know that ... more buses will arrive with about 700 to 800 people," said Gustavo Magallanes Cortes, the director of migrant affairs for the Baja California state government.


    "Likely, they have the intention to go to Tijuana," he added.

    "We're going to try to talk to them to see if we can influence them to stay here, so that it doesn't aggravate the situation in Tijuana."


    The state government estimates that nearly 6,500 migrants from a large caravan that started out in Honduras in October have reached the Baja California border region.


    Approximately 5,500 of them are in Tijuana near the U.S. border at California, they said.


    MORE: Busloads of migrants arrive overnight in Tijuana; shelter over capacity


    Their arrival has created tensions with local residents who have voiced their opposition to the caravan, while the city has struggled to accommodate them all.


    The municipal government opened a sports complex last week to house up to 3,000 migrants. But as of Wednesday afternoon, there were almost 4,500 crammed inside the makeshift shelter in Tijuana.

    "No, things over there are too ugly," Glenda Castillo, a 40-year-old woman from San Pedro Sula, Honduras, told The Arizona Republic from a shelter in Mexicali. "That's why I decided to come back."


    RELATED: Migrants in caravan streaming into Tijuana, but now face long stay


    Castillo spent two days in Tijuana, but instead of staying at the shelter for migrants, she rented a hotel room with a friend. She said that was too expensive, so on Wednesday she boarded a bus to leave that city.


    It's unclear yet if other migrants will follow in her footsteps. But the message the government and community groups are pushing seemed to resonate with more and more migrants already in Mexicali, who have decided to stay there.


    That became evident inside the shelter run by the Grupo de Ayuda para el Migrante en Mexicali, a Christian-based group.


    'The caravan is now over, there's nowhere else to go'

    With a capacity for 350 people, nearly 260 of the migrants who had been staying there took off to Tijuana. They were part of a large group of more than 1,700 migrants who traveled there in the past 24 hours, according to government estimates.

    Inside the shelter, two nuns who had traveled with the migrant caravan since they entered Mexico a month ago addressed the remaining 70 migrants, as they said their goodbyes.


    Over 2,500 mostly Central American migrants are currently staying at the Unidad Deportiva Benito Juarez, a makeshift shelter, in Tijuana, Mexico. Nick Oza, The Republic | azcentral.com

    "The caravan is now over, there's nowhere else to go," said Sister Beatriz Elena, with the Missionaries of Christ Resurrected — a religious order that responds to natural and man-made disasters. She gave them a sort of pep talk, before heading back home, leaving the migrants on their own.

    "It's time to say, 'Thank you, we've now made it to the border.'

    Now it's my turn to work, to fend for myself," Elena added.

    "Right now, it's time to have patience and to wait, but that doesn't mean lose hope of getting to the United States."


    She asked the remaining group if any of them planned on heading to Tijuana. All of the migrants listening to her dissented, shaking their heads no.


    But as more migrants opt to stay, border cities like Mexicali, and Tijuana as well, will face similar challenges to house and offer them job opportunities.

    With large migrant numbers, border communities need more aid

    Gonzalo Pacheco, the director for the shelter run by Grupo de Ayuda para el Migrante en Mexicali, said the federal government needed to step up and help out more so that the response didn't fall largely on border communities.

    "There is a fear that this could drag on for a while, given the numbers," he said. "And that if it does drag on, at any moment, we could be facing greater needs. So if there's any federal resources available, they should release them now."


    Pacheco said that in less than a week, his group had spent some $1,200, taking out a loan, to meet the needs of migrants traveling in the caravan. And while the Mexicali community had been very responsive to date, he questioned how sustainable that would be given previous experience with migrants.


    "With Haitians, it was tremendous, one year in shelters," Pacheco said, hoping to avoid a repeat of his past experience with migrants from Haiti who arrived to Mexicali nearly two years ago. "Talk about something difficult, because it's a tough life. Some worked, others didn't work, but they all would eat, and consume and everything."

    Magallanes, with the Baja California government, said the state requested 80 million pesos, the equivalent of $3.9 million, from the federal government. But so far, they have received only some food and supplies.

    The state also kicked off a jobs fair for migrants this week in Tijuana, with thousands of jobs up for grabs all along the border, in hopes that it will ease the situation for migrants by putting them to work and out of shelters.


    As a second caravan approached Mexicali, Magallanes said the city was well positioned to take them in, for the time being. In addition to nearly a dozen permanent shelters, they opened up an outdoor space in the outskirts with the capacity to hold 1,500 more, he said.


    But no city or state has the resources to tackle this situation without the support from the federal government, he added.


    "We've asked the federal government that the next migrant caravans be rerouted and sent to other border crossings," Magallanes said. "If they're looking to cross and ask for asylum in the United States, they don't have to just do it in Baja California."


    MORE: Mexican police blocks migrants from leaving Mexicali headed for Tijuana


    The timing is a complicating factor for any prompt federal response. The current Mexican government is in transition, as the newly elected president will be sworn in on Dec. 1.


    In the meantime, migrants like Castillo will find a way to make the best of the situation. She left two kids and her mother back in Honduras. So for now, she's abandoning not only her plans to go to Tijuana, but also to get to the United States.

    "Maybe sometime later I could cross. But not now," she said. "Right now, my goal is to stay here and find work."


    https://www.azcentral.com/story/news...ts/2084135002/

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  2. #2
    Moderator Beezer's Avatar
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    We have over 700,000 backlog. Our centers are overcrowded.

    OUR patience has run out LONG ago. Send them back!

    We do not want them, we do not want to pay for them.

    We do not want them trashing our neighborhoods, overcrowding our schools and healthcare systems!

    Load up the women, pregnant ones, children, elderly and sick ones on trains and send them home first.


    CLOSE THE WHOLE BORDER DOWN...ALL OF IT.
    ILLEGAL ALIENS HAVE "BROKEN" OUR IMMIGRATION SYSTEM

    DO NOT REWARD THEM - DEPORT THEM ALL

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