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TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) – The United States has blocked northbound traffic for several hours at the busiest border crossing with Mexico to install new security gates on Monday, a day after hundreds of thousands of people flocked to the border. residents of Tijuana protested against the presence of thousands of Central American migrants.
The United States has also closed one of the two pedestrian crossings at San Ysidro crossing, ostensibly to prevent any massive influx of migrants to the border.
The installation of wire-covered mobile barriers threatens to make life difficult for Mexicans who use San Ysidro, where about 110,000 people enter the United States every day in 40,000 vehicles.
Long lines of waiting have settled in Tijuana, where many people have to cross the border to work on the American side.
Such inconvenience caused by the arrival of the migrant caravan may have played a role in Sunday's demonstrations, when about 400 residents of Tijuana waved Mexican flags, sang the Mexican national anthem and chanted "Out! Out! referring to the caravan of migrants who arrived in the border town last week.
The tension has settled as nearly 3,000 caravan migrants have flocked to Tijuana in recent days, after more than a month's drive – and with many more months ahead of them when they ask for asylum in the United States. The federal government estimates that the number of migrants could soon swell to 10,000.
Protesters clash with police in front of a migrant shelter as they protest against the presence of thousands of Central American migrants in Tijuana, Mexico on Sunday, November 18, 2018.
AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd
US border inspectors handle about 100 asylum applications a day at the main Tijuana border crossing to San Diego. Asylum seekers record their names on a ragged notebook run by migrants themselves, which numbered more than 3,000 names even before the arrival of the caravan.
Some residents of Tijuana have supported the migrants, but others have accused the migrants of being disorganized, ungrateful and endangering Tijuana. They also complained about how the caravan forced its way into Mexico, calling it an "invasion". And they expressed concern that their taxes could be spent on taking care of the group.
"We do not want them in Tijuana," protesters shouted.
Juana Rodriguez, a housewife, said the government needed to conduct a background check on migrants to make sure they had no criminal record.
An anti-migrant protester is surrounded by the press while she is arguing with a woman during a protest against the presence of thousands of Central American migrants in Tijuana, Mexico on Sunday, November 18, 2018.
AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd
One block, less than a dozen residents of Tijuana showed their support to the migrants. Keyla Zamarron, a 38-year-old teacher, said the protesters did not represent her way of thinking so she was holding a sign saying, "Childhood has no boundaries."
Most of the migrants who reached Tijuana by caravan in recent days left Honduras more than a month ago from Honduras, a country of 9 million inhabitants. Dozens of migrants in the caravan who were interviewed by Associated Press reporters said they left their country after receiving death threats.
But the trip was difficult and many returned.
Alden Rivera, Honduras' ambassador to Mexico, told AP on Saturday that 1,800 Hondurans have returned to their country since the launch of the caravan on Oct. 13, and that he hopes others people will make that decision. "We want them to come back to Honduras," Rivera said.
The expected long stay of migrants in Tijuana has raised concerns about the border city's capacity of more than 1.6 million people to manage the influx.
The mayor of Tijuana, Juan Manuel Gastelum, described the arrival of migrants as "avalanche" that the city is ill-prepared to handle. They calculated that they would stay in Tijuana for at least six months while waiting to file an asylum application. Gastelum appealed to the federal government to receive more help to cope with this influx.
Tijuana officials converted a municipal gymnasium and recreation complex into a shelter to prevent migrants from accessing public spaces. The private shelters in the city have a maximum capacity of 700 people. The municipal complex can accommodate up to 3,000 people.
At the municipal shelter, Josue Caseres, 24, expressed dismay at protests against the caravan. "We are fleeing violence," said the artist from Santa Barbara, Honduras. "How can they think we will come here to be violent?"
Elsewhere Sunday, a group of 200 migrants from El Salvador to the north, determined to find a way to protect themselves in sufficient numbers to reach the United States.
Edwin Alexander Gomez, 20, told the San Salvador PA that he wanted to work in construction in New York, where he had learned that wages were better and that the city was safer.
US President Donald Trump, who wanted to make the caravan a campaign issue in the midterm elections, used Twitter Sunday to express his support for the mayor of Tijuana and try to discourage migrants from seeking to enter the United States .
Trump wrote that, like Tijuana, "the United States is ill-prepared for this invasion and will not tolerate it, it is the cause of crime and big trouble in Mexico, go home!"
He then followed this tweet by writing: "Catch and Release is an obsolete term, now called Catch and Detain, illegal immigrants trying to come to the United States, often proudly waving the flag of their country while they ask for American asylum, will be arrested or hijacked. "
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Associated Press reporter Julie Watson contributed to this story from Tijuana and Marcos Aleman of San Salvador.
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, disseminated, rewritten or redistributed.
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