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TIJUANA, Mexico – The mayor of Tijuana has declared a humanitarian crisis in his border town and said on Friday that he was asking for help to the United Nations to deal with the estimated 5,000 Central American migrants who arrived.
Mayor Juan Manuel Gastelum spoke as city officials and volunteers worked together to help 4,976 men, women and children, most of whom were staying in an improvised shelter in a sports complex after spending more than a month on the road. The Trump administration spent weeks robbing the caravan, which it said was full of criminals, gang members and even – she hinted at one point without any evidence – of terrorists.
Manuel Figueroa, who runs the city's social services, said Tijuana brought portable toilets and showers, as well as shampoo and soap.
It was not enough.
"Due to the absence, apathy and abandonment of the federal government, we must turn to international institutions such as the United States," said Figueroa.
Rene Vazquez, a 60-year-old resident of Tijuana and a volunteer at the stadium, said the Mexican federal government had ignored the problem by allowing the caravan to cross the country without stopping. Today, the city of 1.6 million residents is struggling with fallout.
"I have nothing against the migrants, they have been the most disappointed, but it concerns us all," Vazquez said.
Gastelum promised not to commit the city's public resources to deal with the situation. On Thursday, his government issued a statement in which he claimed he was seeking help from the United States Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Vasquez, who plays in a football team that uses the sports complex, said Mexico should step in now and process the group's humanitarian visas so that he can start looking for work. Meanwhile, as his football team could no longer train in the stadium, he spent time distributing pizzas and roast chicken to the migrants.
The caravan of migrants who left Honduras in mid-October was especially welcomed by the cities crossed to the border. Even cities with few resources have ensured that migrants have food and a place to rest.
But in these places, the caravan stayed for a maximum of two nights – with the exception of Mexico City. In Tijuana, many migrants fleeing violence and poverty are seeking asylum in the United States and plan to spend months in the border town before having the opportunity to talk with a US official.
Gastelum said Friday that the Mexican government had announced the shipment of 20 tons of resources to Tijuana, but that three quarters were made up of materials to strengthen the border and only 5 tons were intended for migrants.
The mayor also criticized the federal government for not taking the threat of President Donald Trump more seriously Thursday to close the border if his administration decided that Mexico had lost the "control" of the situation in Tijuana.
"It's serious," he said.
Migrants also benefited from support from local churches, private citizens who provided food, as well as various state government agencies from Baja California, which reported that 7,000 job offers had created for qualified people.
Adelaida Gonzalez, 37, from Guatemala City, arrived in Tijuana three days ago and was struggling to adapt. She was tired of sleeping on a blanket on a dirt plot, waiting for 30 minutes to go to the bathroom and again to have food and she did not know how much she could still take.
"We would not have taken the risk of coming if we had known it would be so difficult," said Gonzales, who left Guatemala with his 15-year-old son and neighbor.
She said that she was considering accepting Mexico's offer to stay and work in Chiapas as a refugee.
Some of the migrants organized a small demonstration at the Chaparral border crossing on Thursday and some of them spent the night. Police closed the streets around the crossing, preventing traffic, but pedestrian traffic across the border continued without interruption on Friday.
Alicia Ramirez, a 65-year-old Tijuana businesswoman, said she was worried that she would not be able to go to Black Friday for Christmas shopping, but had no trouble getting to California. A dozen Mexican policemen stood near the railroad crossing with plastic shields.
Nevertheless, the threat of closing the border prevented her daughters in Los Angeles from coming to see her during the holidays.
"My daughters were worried and so decided not to come," she said.
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Christopher Sherman, AP writer in Mexico, contributed to this report.
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, disseminated, rewritten or redistributed.
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