Mexicali migrant shelter plans on hold after protest

SAN DIEGO — Plans to open a federal shelter for migrants in Mexicali have stalled after neighbors vehemently protested and successfully convinced Baja California’s new governor to shelve it.

According to human rights workers on both sides of the border, the change calls into question what Mexico is actually doing to protect asylumseekers returned to border regions under a program called the Migrant Protection Protocols.

Baja California Gov. Jaime Bonilla said last week the federal shelter might not open at all because residents are opposed to it and because “it might not be needed.”

Human rights advocates say a lack of public support and no government oversight of private shelters in Mexicali have caused dangerous living conditions for asylumseekers that allows shelters to exploit the vulnerable people they are meant to protect.

The majority of residents in the neighborhood in central Mexicali where the federal shelter was slated to open said Thursday they are adamantly opposed to it. A few people who work or go to the gym near the location said they supported the idea.

Margarita Rubio, 53, has lived in the Conjunto Urbano Universitario neighborhood in Mexicali for 20 years. Her home on

Avenida Bachilleres is one street north from the planned shelter site, which is a shuttered grocery store.

“We already have enough problems with the high crime that is here. We don’t need other types of problems that will come with this magnitude of people,” said Rubio.

She said she understands the majority are fleeing violence in their home countries but pointed out that Mexico has many migrants who come north to Baja California for the same reasons.

“The majority are looking for better lives. It is understandable. In fact, even from here, from the same country, Mexico, they also come here,” she said.

Carlos Alberto Flores, 25, who goes to a gym next door to the site for the planned shelter, said he thinks the neighbors are over-reacting.

“I think everyone deserves an opportunity, especially when they arrive in a new place. The majority come here to work,” said Flores, who said, unlike the many of his neighbors, he didn’t believe the migrants would cause problems.

“If they cause problems, then they can just take the individuals who do out of here,” said Flores.

In October, nearly 200 people protested outside the now empty building where the federal government was slated to open the shelter on Nov. 1.

The shelter was planned as a response to shifts in U.S. immigration policy under the Trump administration, specifically for migrants who have been returned to Mexicali under the United States’ “Remain in Mexico” program, also known as “Migrant Protection Protocols” or “MPP.”

Under the program, migrants are sent back to Mexico to await the outcomes of their U.S. asylum cases.

Human rights workers and attorneys dispute the U.S. government’s name for the program because they say it gives the false impression that migrants are being protected in Mexico. Instead, some call it the “Migrant Persecution Protocols.”

As soon as the site for the Mexicali shelter was proposed last fall, neighbors began a campaign to oppose it, circulating a petition that has now gathered hundreds of signatures. They use Facebook to spread word about upcoming protests.

Lerma Ojeda, 62, has lived in the neighborhood for 25 years. For the past five years, she has owned a small business there, the Leda’s Envolutras y Regalos gift shop, across the street from the planned shelter.

“The clients are not going to want to come here,” said Ojeda about why she opposes the shelter. “Right now, my clients are coming here and asking me, ‘Lerma, are you going to close?’ and I have to tell them I don’t know.”