Migrants in a makeshift camp last summer as thousands of asylum seekers waited for US hearings on August 25, 2021 in Tijuana at Mexico’s El Chaparral intersection with the US. REUTERS / Jorge Duenes /
Encouraged by the news that the US and Mexico will reopen joint land border crossings, hundreds of migrants have arrived in border towns like Tijuana.
The hope? That the reset will make it easier to cross and apply for U.S. asylum.
As of Monday, the almost 2,000 mile limit will be reached reopened for non-essential travel after a 20-month closure with the aim of containing the spread of COVID-19.
White House Spokesman Kevin Munoz said on Twitter: “As we expect high demand when the US lifts its existing flight and land travel restrictions on Monday, we are taking critical steps to be prepared by providing additional resources.”
The government has made several calls with U.S. airlines to prepare for the influx of global travelers who will arrive at U.S. airports and has warned those crossing from Canada and Mexico by land or ferry to stop on Monday prepare longer waiting times.
However, the borderline situation adds another fold.
Another attempt to enter the US could put pressure on Washington, the border to one Leap in migrants this year from crisis areas in Central America and the Caribbean tested President Joe Biden.
“I’ll try. We want to cross the border. I can no longer be in Mexico. There is a lot of violence here,” said Andrea Morales, a Guatemalan who has been living in a makeshift camp next to the El Chaparral border crossing in Tijuana for a month.
“Four days ago the government took away our lights and fenced us in like animals. I trust in God so I can cruise and give my children a better life, ”said Morales as she nursed her baby between dozens of tents.
Local authorities have angered migrants over the past week when they threw away tents and other belongings that had been left in the camp they had occupied since February.
Migrant advocates say many people have been misled about what the border restart means for their asylum prospects.
“There is a lot of misinformation. We explained to them that the reopening of the border is for people who have papers and a visa, and that it is not a reopening for people crossing and asking for asylum and humanitarian aid, ”said Jose Garcia, head of the migrant shelter Movimiento Juventud 2000 in Tijuana.
“They haven’t listened to us and don’t want to wait,” he added, saying the number of migrants in the shelter has increased by a third since it was reopened on October 15.
Mexicans also arrive.
Many migrants in Tijuana said they were fleeing violence in Mexican states like Michoacan and Guerrero and wanted to cross the border to seek asylum on Monday.
In 2020, 9,700 Mexicans were violently displaced, an increase of more than a third from the previous year, according to the Geneva Center for Monitoring Internal Displacements.
The pandemic, along with a surge in U.S. asylum applications, has resulted in thousands of migrants waiting in Mexico for months for a response to their petitions or just a chance to submit them.
“I never went with the intention of staying in Mexico. It’s like in Honduras, ”said Augusto Martinez, a Honduran who arrived in Tijuana three weeks ago with his wife and five children. “We’ll definitely try and cross.”
(Reuters reporting by Lizbeth Diaz and David Shepardson; editing by Dave Graham and Peter Cooney)
– From personnel and wire reports
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