Mexico is facing a continuing migrant crisis as thousands of African and Haitian migrants are living in the streets of Tijuana amid trash.
El Financiero reports the Haitians and Africans are living in the streets as they wait to meet with United States authorities to try and get a humanitarian visa. People from Haiti and several African countries are eligible for Temporary Protected Status which protects them from deportation and allows them to receive government benefits.
Patrick Murphy, director of the Casa Scalabrini del Migrante, told El Financiero, that in the past week 150 migrants had arrived every single day. Murphy said this left his organization struggling to find room for migrants.
The Haitian and African migrants have been moving up Central America towards the United States all year. Mexico detained more African migrants in the first seven months of 2016 than they had in the past four years combined. An estimated eight thousand Caribbean migrants have entered Tijuana since March 23. (RELATED: There’s Also An African Migrant Crisis On America’s Southern Border)
There is now political fighting over the crisis. Mexico’s Labour Party has made an appeal to the federal government to give better care to the migrants in Tijuana, while a nationalist party posted on Facebook, “Tijuana shouldn’t have to be the world’s pit stop for people who don’t share common interests with our country or our people looking to cross into the U.S.”