Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Caravan’s migrants living in limbo on border
TIJUANA, Mexico — Thousands of Central Americans who traveled north to the U.S. border this fall, drawing dire warnings from President Donald Trump, have settled into an uneasy existence in Tijuana, facing a backlash on both sides of the border.
Coordinators who helped direct the migrants through Mexico with bullhorns and advice have largely vanished, and many of the migrants are frustrated, unsure what to do next.
“It’s like a house without the parents,” said Andrea Ramirez, 41, a Guatemalan who is living with her two daughters in El Barretal migrant shelter in Tijuana, where many caravan members have settled. “The children do whatever they want.”
The migrant caravans have also not drawn the same sympathy or political support that some previous groups — such as the surge of unaccompanied minors in 2014 — did in either Mexico or the United States.
“I left my country because I thought this caravan was going to the United States,” said Jose Morenos, 49, who joined a caravan in Honduras after seeing a story on the news. “I would not have come here if I knew they’d stop in Mexico.”
It’s a sign of how little the groups understood the harsh political realities of immigration that they approached the border in November just as Americans were embroiled in a bitter midterm election campaign in which Trump warned of a looming “invasion” of criminals and terrorists.
Since then, Trump has fought Congress over his demands for $5 billion for his border wall, keeping his immigration crackdown in the spotlight.
And the migrants’ chances of gaining legal entry into the United States have only worsened: On Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen announced that asylum-seekers will be forced to wait in Mexico while their cases are processed in the U.S.
Mexican officials initially registered about 6,000 migrants from the caravans at an emergency shelter less than 400 feet from the U.S. border, double the facility’s planned capacity.
Overcrowding and flooding prompted officials to shutter the shelter on Nov. 29, pushing about 2,800 people into El Barretal. Others went to smaller shelters scattered in and around Tijuana.
Mexican authorities have deported about 300 of the caravan members and helped about 700 more back to their home countries, according to the government.
They say about 1,000 others illegally crossed the border, a figure that U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials dispute, though they wouldn’t provide their own figure.
More than 1,000 people from the caravans have found jobs or been cleared to work in Mexico, while about 3,500 others have registered for work visas, according to Mexico’s National Employment Service.
Nearly 600 people from the caravans have applied for asylum in Mexico, according to the U.N. refugee agency. It’s unclear how many have applied for U.S. asylum, but the number of migrants claiming asylum at U.S. ports of entry in October and November doubled from the same period last year, Kevin McAleenan, Customs and Border Protection commissioner, said in a conference call with reporters.
Alfonso Guerrero Ulloa, a Honduran who has lived in Mexico since he was accused of a terrorist attack in his home country more than 30 years ago, led an effort to deliver a letter to the U.S. Consulate that asked Trump to either let migrants enter the United States or pay $50,000 to each migrant who goes home.
Mexican police removed Guerrero from El Barretal shelter recently for trying to organize another march to the consulate.
Teodoro Alvarado, 48, of El Salvador said that the demand for money had tarnished the migrants’ asylum effort.
“It hurts us,” he said. “People are going to think we are criminals, because that is extortion.”
U.S. officials have cited the letter as well to question the migrants’ motives after a clash at San Ysidro on Nov. 25, when the Border Patrol used tear gas to block hundreds of people trying to rush the border.
“You know, as an American, I think that is outrageous,” Nielsen said on Dec. 14 on Fox News. “They demand Americans pay them $50,000 each. They have demanded we change the way which we do immigration and protect our border. These are not migrants who are seeking asylum.”
McAleenan defended the Border Patrol’s actions and blamed the migrants for the Nov. 25 clash at the border.
“They were assaultive in their behavior. They threw rocks at agents,” McAleenan said at a Senate committee hearing on Dec. 11. He blamed “agitators and lead organizers” for the violence.
Orfirio Mendoza, 41, of Honduras said no one took charge as the migrants approached the border. He now plans to stay and work in Mexico.
“Nobody believes in anything,” Mendoza said. “People come and try to establish themselves as leaders, organize a gathering, but nobody pays attention to them.”
Carlos Garcia, 19, of Honduras was among the migrants who believed the United States would offer them asylum on Nov. 25. Now he feels abandoned.
“They told us it would be beautiful,” he said. “Now that we are here, it is very different. They lied to us about everything.”