Tensions build in Mexico, at border in response to caravan
TIJUANA, Mexico — The United States closed off northbound traffic for several hours at the busiest border crossing with Mexico to install new security barriers Monday, a day after hundreds of Tijuana residents protested against the presence of thousands of Central American migrants.
The U.S. also closed one of two pedestrian crossings at the San Ysidro crossing in a move apparently aimed at preventing any mass rush of migrants across the border.
The installation of movable, wire-topped barriers threatens to complicate life for Mexicans using San Ysidro, where about 110,000 people enter the U.S. every day in 40,000 vehicles.
Long lines backed up in Tijuana, where many people have to cross the border to work on the U.S. side.
Such inconveniences prompted by the arrival of the migrant caravan may have played a role in Sunday’s protests, when about 400 Tijuana residents waved Mexican flags, sang the Mexican national anthem and chanted “Out! Out!” referring to the migrant caravan that arrived in the border city last week.
Tensions have built as nearly 3,000 migrants from the caravan poured into Tijuana in recent days after more than a month on the road — and with many more months likely ahead of them while they seek asylum in the U.S. The federal government estimates the number of migrants soon could swell to 10,000.
U.S. border inspectors are processing only about 100 asylum claims a day at Tijuana’s main crossing to San Diego.
Asylum seekers register their names in a tattered notebook managed by migrants themselves that had more than 3,000 names even before the caravan arrived.
Some Tijuana residents supported the migrants, but others accused them of being messy, ungrateful and a danger to the city. They also complained about how the caravan forced its way into Mexico, calling it an “invasion.” And they voiced worries that their taxes might be spent to care for the group.
“We don’t want them in Tijuana,” protesters shouted.
Juana Rodriguez, a housewife, said the government needs to conduct background checks on the migrants to make sure they don’t have criminal records.
A block away, fewer than a dozen Tijuana residents stood with signs of support for the migrants. Keyla Zamarron, a 38-year- old teacher, said the protesters don’t represent her way of thinking as she held a sign saying: “Childhood has no borders.”
The protests came amid what may be a hardening of positions in some northern Mexican states. The civil defense department of Jalisco state, where migrants pass on their way to Tijuana, said it no longer would provide shelters for migrants, citing problems with fights at a shelter last week.
Instead, the state will provide water, some food and escorts at nine points along the main highway leading through the state to help ensure the migrants don’t have to stop.
Most of the migrants who have reached Tijuana in recent days set out more than a month ago from Honduras, a country of 9 million people. Many migrants in the caravan have said they left their country after death threats.