Friday, November 23, 2018

Tijuana declares humanitarian crisis due to the immigrant caravan.

ICE shuts down the border crossing at San Diego to install additional fortifications. AZ Central/USA Today. 

Tijuana Mexico has declared a humanitarian crisis due to the illegal immigrant caravan and is calling for international support. AZ Central. The 5000 migrants have had a major impact on Tijuana as the city is spending $27,000 a day to support them. Tijuana's Mayor  Juan Manuel Gastelum has called on the UN and other international organizations to help with the crisis. Gastelum has also criticized the Mexican Federal government saying they haven't done enough to help and even wearing a parody "Make Tijuana Great Again" hat. The caravan has met with a chilly reception in Tijuana as local citizens are upset that they are there while waiting for asylum. President Trump has threatened to close the border with Mexico completely in response to the crisis. 

My Comment:
It's kind of surreal to see Mexico complaining about illegal immigration. After all, so many millions of them went to the United States illegally over the years. And now the same thing is happening to them, or at least to the ones that haven't crossed the border themselves. 

I do think they have a right to complain though. These illegal immigrants have no right to be in Mexico right now and should have been stopped at the border. They never should have been Tijuana's problem in the first place, let alone Americas. Anyone who doesn't use the legal way to enter country should get zero sympathy. It doesn't matter if that country is America or Mexico. 

These people are a pretty huge burden for Tijuana and it seems like everyone is leaving them out to dry. They are costing $27,000 a day in a country where that is a lot of money. It's money that could go to a dozen different things as I am sure that Tijuana has it's fair share of problems. 

The Mexican federal government doesn't seem to be doing much to help them either. They did try to stop the caravan when it first formed but they failed and they haven't been able to get these people to turn around. My guess is that they just want them to go away but that doesn't seem to be something that is going to happen. 

It's also very clear that President Trump isn't screwing around with these illegals. He is not going to let them in and has put down quite a bit of razor wire and other barriers to make sure they don't cross the border. Though his new asylum requirements got struck down, for the time being, he is threatening to close the border with Mexico entirely, which may force Mexico to do something about these people. 

The international community could be doing more to help Tijuana. The best thing they could do is to convince these people to go back home, but that doesn't seem to be the goal. The main goal appears to be to force America to accept open borders, a concept that is not going to fly while President Trump is in the White House. These illegals are just pawns in that battle and I doubt any of them care that Tijuana is being bankrupted by having to take care of these criminals. 

I do have to say that I feel quite a bit of kinship with Mayor Gastelum and the residents of Tijuana. They realize that they are in a bad situation through no fault of their own but they are not taking it lying down. They are being loudly critical of both the illegals and the people that support them. For that they have my respect. 

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