In border town, Haitians hailed as a success story
TIJUANA, MEXICO » A few blocks from a shelter housing members of a Central American migrant caravan sits the first Haitian restaurant to open in Tijuana, a bustling eatery that has come to symbolize an immigrant success story in this Mexican border city where Haitians are now a part of the fabric, landing jobs, studying and marrying locals.
Tijuana welcomed thousands of Haitians to pursue a scaled- down American dream south of the border after the U.S. closed its doors on them more than two years ago. But it has not shown the same tolerance so far toward the Central Americans, who have met official complaints and anti- caravan protests even though most of the people in this city are migrants or the offspring of migrants.
That’s raising questions about how the newest group will integrate if it doesn’t don’t get into the U.S. or return home.
Tijuana Mayor Juan Manuel Gastelum has made a point of saying the city is not happy with the caravan migrants who began arriving last week, and he compared the Central American group unfavorably with the roughly 3,000 Haitians who ended up staying after their bid to reach the U.S. failed.
“The Haitians arrived with their papers, with a clear vision,” Gastelum said in an interview posted on the city’s Facebook page. They came “in an orderly way, they never asked us for food or shelter,” renting apartments and making their own food. He said the Haitians found jobs and “inserted themselves in the city’s economy” and had not been involved in any disturbances.
By contrast, Gastelum said, the caravan of Central Americans “had arrived all of sudden, with a lot of people — not all ... but a lot — were aggressive and cocky.”
Victor Clark-Alfaro, a professor of Latin American studies at San Diego State University who lives in Tijuana, attributes the backlash to the way the caravan arrived — suddenly with thousands pouring in. Others point to social media and the hostile rhetoric of U. S. President Donald Trump, who said it harbored criminals and gang members and was planning an “invasion.”
Many also say the actions of a few are tarnishing the image of the roughly 4,000 migrants who are camped in Tijuana. In the past week, city officials have arrested three dozen caravan members for drug posses- sion, public intoxication, disturbing the peace and resisting police, and said they would be deported to their home countries.
U. S. border inspectors are processing only about 100 asylum claims a day at Tijuana’s main crossing to San Diego, and there was already a waiting list of 3,000 when the new migrants arrived, so most will have to wait months to even be considered for asylum.
Many in the newly arrived caravan are destitute people who left their homelands at the spur of the moment and have been utterly dependent on handouts along their journey.
Many of the Haitians, meanwhile, arrived with at least some resources after working in Brazil, though despite what the mayor said, they also stayed at shelters after taking an accidental route to Tijuana from their impoverished Caribbean homeland. The last group of Haitians moved out of the Padre Chava shelter in April.
President Barack Obama shifted course in 2016 and started deporting Haitian arrivals. Many decided to stay in Mexico after the government gave them temporary transit permits and have since applied for Mexican residency. The majority in the Central American caravan so far have refused Mexico’s repeated offers of residency or asylum and vowed to cross the border.
Many of the Haitians also have college degrees and have been recruited to work for factories that export to the U. S. Some can be found waiting tables and worshipping at congregations that have even added services in Creole.
“I feel for the migrants who are arriving from other countries just like we did,” said Haitian immigrant Philocles Julda, 44. “But you do adapt.”