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Tijuana.— The arrival of 5,000 Haitians to Tijuana has saturated the four main shelters of the city causing some migrants to sleep in the sidewalks or in old rooms.
Until last month, the National Migration Institute in Tapachula and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had speed up the issuance of transit permits and appointments to cross the border into the U.S.
However, an historic flow was registered during the last two weeks: it is estimated that 2,000 migrants have reached the northern border in the last days, the much coveted appointment seems a very distant prospect.
Thousand of Haitians left from Brazil in May, when the economic crisis worsened and they are just reaching Tijuana, however, the long journey and the accommodation in Tijuana have emptied their pockets.
The migrants have had to spend their nights between the city shelters or in the streets of Tijuana, where they have to sleep outdoors when they want to be the first to get a place in the National Migration Institute.
They roam without a clear destination during the day, holding their mobile and calling their relatives in the U.S. to ask for US$20 and be able to get something to eat that week.
The family efforts are not enough as living in Tijuana is expensive and everything is charged in dollars, that is why they try to have something to eat in the only shelter that provides this service: Father Chava’s Dinner, located at the city center, where they eat early and, though the queue is large, everybody gets something to eat.
Citizens and residents from south California park their trucks and offer some “tortas” and “burritos” in the afternoon.
As the migrants cannot stay in the shelters during the day, they roam and roam through the city alleys until night falls.
Those who still have some cash live in “cuarterías” or in hotels which were previously leased to prostitutes from the red zone and that accommodate up to thirty Haitians in tiny and overcrowded rooms.
Having breakfast, roaming and sleeping in overcrowded spaces, this will be their everyday routine until they are able to get an appointment at the Migration Institute and the U.S. government assesses their situation, or they receive an approval to enter the country.
