Protests in Tijuana against migrants increase tensions

By Samyukta Srinivasan
Staff reporter
The Pawprint

Several Tijuana residents gathered to protest the thousands of Central American migrants who arrived in the Mexican border city. They are expected to remain in this city for months as they attempt to claim asylum in the United States.

Tensions continue to build as nearly 3,000 migrants from a caravan that has been travelling through Central America have streamed into Tijuana in recent days. According to the federal government, the number of migrants is expected to grow to about 10,000 in coming weeks.

On Sunday, protesters waved Mexican flags, belted out the Mexican national anthem, and chanted, “Out! Out!” in front of a statue of the Aztec ruler Cuauhtémoc, 1.6 km from the U.S. border. They accused the migrants of being “messy, ungrateful, and a danger to Tijuana.”

Tijuana officials have converted a municipal gymnasium and recreational complex into a shelter, with a maximum capacity of 3,000 to keep the migrants out of public spaces. However, as numbers are expected to increase, this space will not be sufficient to hold all migrants.