Tijuana declares 'humanitarian crisis' as caravan moves through nyp.st/2Bv5aOv via @nypost
The mayor of Tijuana has declared a humanitarian crisis in his border city and said Friday he was asking the United Nations for aid to deal with the approximately 5,000 Central American migrants, most of whom were camped out inside a sports complex.
“Because of the absence, the apathy and the abandonment of the federal government, we are having to turn to international institutions like the U.N.,” Figueroa said.
Rene Vazquez, 60, a Tijuana resident who was volunteering at the stadium, said Mexico’s federal government ignored the problem by allowing the caravan to cross the country without stopping. Now the city of 1.6 million is stuck with the fallout.
the Mexican government has talked about sending 20 tons of resources to Tijuana to help but that three-fourths consisted of materials to reinforce the border and only 5 tons were for the migrants.
The mayor also criticized the federal government for not taking more seriously President Donald Trump’s threat Thursday to shut down the border if his administration determined Mexico had lost “control” of the situation in Tijuana.
“That’s serious,” he said.
“That’s serious,” he said.
Adelaida Gonzalez, 37, of Guatemala City arrived in Tijuana three days ago and was having a hard time adjusting. She was tired of sleeping on a blanket on a dirt field, of waiting 30 minutes to go to the bathroom and again to get food and didn’t know how much more she could take.
Alicia Ramirez, 65, a Tijuana businesswoman, said she had been worried she wouldn’t be able to make her annual Black Friday crossing to do her Christmas shopping, but had no trouble walking into California.
About a dozen Mexican police stood by the crossing carrying plastic shields.
Still, the threat of a border closure kept her daughters in Los Angeles from coming to see her for the holidays.
“My daughters were worried, so they decided not to come,” she said.
Still, the threat of a border closure kept her daughters in Los Angeles from coming to see her for the holidays.
“My daughters were worried, so they decided not to come,” she said.
