HUDDLED MASSES ON THE BORDER: TIJUANA'S MIGRANT COMMUNITY

UNCLAS TIJUANA 000698


E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PREL MX
SUBJECT: HUDDLED MASSES ON THE BORDER: TIJUANA'S MIGRANT COMMUNITY


1. SUMMARY: Tijuana is a magnet for migrants and is dotted with
shelters serving those who have either tried, and failed, to
cross illegally into the United States or, more commonly, those
that have been recently deported or repatriated. NGOs that work
with migrants report an increase in deportations in 2008 and
decrease in the number arriving from other Mexican states to
attempt the journey. Few migrants attempt to cross in the
Tijuana/San Diego corridor anymore, but try the crossing several
miles to the east near Tecate, where the border fence ends,
paying upwards of USD$1500 to traffickers for the three-day
journey through the desert. Almost none of the deported
migrants who show up in Tijuana shelters are from the area and
most face an unwelcome reception. The majority stay only
temporarily before attempting the journey again. Few choose to
return to their home states. The federal government has promised
assistance to border states for departed migrants, but very
little assistance has trickled down to those in Tijuana's
shelters. END SUMMARY

THE MELTING POT

2. Nobody is originally from Tijuana. Well, almost nobody (or at
least nobody will actually admit to it). Ask any random group of
people on the street here and most will reply they are from
Sinaloa, Michoacan, Sonora, or another far-off Mexican state.
Ask cab drivers or street vendors and many may also tell you how
they used to live in Los Angeles or San Diego, and ended up in
Tijuana after being deported or repatriated. This isn't
surprising for a booming border town. The state of Baja
California has attracted thousands of migrants in the last
decade coming to work in the city's nearly 600 maquila
factories. In addition, the area attracts those using it as a
staging ground to cross either legally or (more usually)
illegally into the United States and deportees trying to figure
out their next move.


3. Tijuana has a number of charitable shelters to serve this
community of migrants. Most shelters provide a bed, blankets,
food, and toiletries, and some also provide social and health
services. Only two or three years ago, most of the shelters
were filled with U.S.-bound migrants, waiting for a trafficker
or "pollero" to take them across. However, Salvador Vargas,
assistant director of the Salvation Army Shelter in the Libertad
neighborhood of Tijuana, says that fewer and fewer of these
would-be migrants are showing up from the south of Mexico,
probably due to a combination of poorer job prospects in the
U.S., greater numbers of deportations, and a more difficult
journey across since construction of the infamous "muro". Now,
rather than new arrivals from the south of Mexico, his shelter
is packed with those recently deported or repatriated from the
U.S. Demand often exceeds supply for shelter in Tijuana. When
the Salvation Army's eighty-eight beds are filled, and no other
spaces can be found at any of the other city shelters, they
simply set up bedding on the floor.


4. Shelter employees encourage those deported or repatriated to
contact family in their home states and will even help arrange
transportation for them to return, but only a few choose this
option. Many of them arrive in Tijuana after spending many years
in the U.S. and will stay in Tijuana only long enough to save up
money to cross again. Father Luiz Kendziernski, who runs
Tijuana's largest migrant shelter, the Casa de Migrante,
estimates that about half the migrants he sees will attempt the
journey again as soon as they have the money, another twenty or
thirty percent will try to scrape together a living in Tijuana,
at least temporarily, and the rest will return to their home
states. Francisco, a recent arrival at the shelter from the
state of Mexico told poloff he was already trying to return home
after attempting the journey once and getting discouraged by its
difficulty. His friend, who was voluntarily repatriated after
a year in the United States, also said he was trying to go back
home. But both said they would probably be back in Tijuana in a
year or so to try the journey again in cooler weather. Carlos,
a volunteer at the Salvation Army Shelter not far from the Casa
de Migrante, is himself a deportee, after twenty years working
illegally in the U.S., and is one of those who chose to stay in
Tijuana rather than risk another journey. He says most of the
migrants are too embarrassed to return to family in their home
states empty handed, but at the same time, do not know anyone in
Baja California. So, most will wait for relatives or friends
still in the U.S. to send money or pick up odd jobs in Tijuana
to pay another pollero. Baja California has plenty of
employment in its maquilas, but these jobs are generally out of
reach for deportees who usually lack necessary Mexican paperwork
for a formal sector job.

SO MUCH FOR MEXICAN HOSPITATLITY

5. Whatever their plans are once finding themselves in a local
shelter, the migrants have one thing in common: they do not like
Tijuana. The Binational Center for Human rights released in
June a scathing report accusing the Tijuana municipal police of
abuse, extortion and arbitrary detention of migrants. Its
findings are backed up by reports from shelter workers who say
migrants routinely report being forced to pay municipal police
money to avoid detention. Salvation Army volunteers say that
many of the migrants are scared to leave the shelter in the
mornings, even though they are supposed to go find work. Father
Kendziernski finds the police's actions surprising because
migrants usually only have a small amount of money on them. He
believes the municipal police harass migrants as a way to
discourage them from settling in the city. Or, perhaps, they
are just an easy target. Municipal police aren't the migrants'
only worry. Four migrants' bodies were found in the desert
near Tecate June 15, killed by five armed bandits. State police
have arrested three suspects, who they believe were involved in
a number of other robberies and murders of migrants.

PERILOUS JOURNIES

6. Migrants may be down on their luck, but the traffickers they
hire appear to be doing a booming business. Carlos notes that
for many of the deportees, their second trip across the border
will be more difficult than their original one. A few years
ago, migrants crossed near the San Diego/Tijuana corridor in a
one-day trip. Now, migrants must make the trip further east for
a three-day journey through a harsh desert climate. Carlos says
the price for the trip is rising. The lowest rate he has heard
of recently is $1500, and Father Kendziernski thinks the average
is closer to $2000. Still, Carlos says, the journey from Baja
California is cheaper than in the states bordering Arizona and
Texas, where polleros and migrants know that, if caught, they
will be held in U.S. detention facilities for several days
before being deported, whereas in California most are taken to
the port of entry for repatriation within hours.


7. Shelter workers do not expect any decrease in the demand for
their services in the near future. The state of Baja California
and municipality of Tijuana signed an agreement on March 31 with
the Mexican federal government to provide assistance for
migrants. Shelter workers say federal representatives met with
them over a month ago, but since then, they have heard nothing
and received no resources. Father Kendziernski does not believe
the federal government's programs are sufficient to make much of
a difference in migrants' prospects.

KRAMER