The migrant caravan on the U.S. southern border has already worn out its welcome in the neighboring Mexican city of Tijuana ... and it only just got there. The reality of having thousands of new arrivals turn up uninvited in need of housing, clothing, medical treatment, and, of course, policing, has proven to be too much of a burden for the border town. "Tijuana is a city of immigrants, but we don't want them in this way," said Mayor Juan Manuel Gastélum regarding the migrant caravan, which he labeled a "horde."
"You're going to tell me we have to respect human rights," Gastélum declared, "But human rights are for law-abiding humans."
The mayor spoke as the first wave of 3,000 migrants moved into his town. Mexican government officials estimate as many as 10,000 migrants may eventually make their way to Tijuana and local residents are far from thrilled by the idea.
Angry Mexicans
"They entered the country violently, they are demanding services, they are smoking marijuana, who knows what," one local, Tere Lamas, told The Guardian. "The United States already said they can't come, so what's going to happen?" The paper reports locals have clashed with migrants, chanting "Out of Tijuana" and "Mexico has its own problems."
Another Tijuana resident, Marco-Antonio Gonzalez, told NBC News that he has seen migrants throw away unwanted food and reject donated clothing that wasn't brand name. "The way this [caravan] was done was disrespectful. They cause trouble. We don't know who they are," Gonzalez said.
As the mayor and other officials estimate the city may be processing migrants for the next six months at least, the situation is only likely to deteriorate in Tijuana.
Highway to America
Tijuana residents have their own corrupt Mexican government to thank for this unwanted incursion from Central America into their neighborhoods. What kind of self-respecting country allows itself to be a thruway for mobs of wandering vagabonds vowing to push their way into another nation (the United States)? Not only did Mexico do nothing to seriously hinder this crowd at its southern border with Guatemala but Breitbart reports Mexican state and federal police actually escorted buses full of migrants as they made their way north to the U.S. border.
Tijuana is a city already plagued by drug cartel crime. A staggering 36 murders were committed during the first week of November alone in the city, pushing the unofficial murder tally for the year in the city over the 2,100 mark.
Faced with this ongoing bloodbath, how is the fact their own government is helping to drive some 10,000 migrants of unknown origin into their city going to sit with residents?
“What these people are doing in our country and especially in our city is unacceptable,” reads a post on an anti-migrant Facebook page created by a Tijuana resident. “They have more rights than us as citizens.”
"Some of them are a bunch of bums, smoking marijuana in the street, and attacking our families in Playas de Tijuana," Mayor Gastelum told a Mexican national television network. "Who is leading them?"
Mexico elected a left-leaning populist to be its new president. Andrés Manuel López Obrador captured the presidency by running as an agent of change. If he truly wants to put the interests of the average Mexican first, he can start by putting an end to his country's standing as a way station for Central Americans slinking their way toward the U.S.
The people of Tijuana can tell him just how fed up they are with the situation.
