TIJUANA, Mexico (Reuters) – Demonized by U.S. President Donald Trump and exhausted after a harrowing journey, migrants from Central America in a caravan now face a new threat: open hostility from some Mexicans.
A small group of residents in an upscale Tijuana neighborhood near the Mexican border confronted caravan migrants late on Wednesday, throwing stones and telling them to go back to their home countries.
“Get out of here,” around 200 people shouted at a camp of Hondurans near the border. “We want you to return to your country. You are not welcome.”
Migrants shouted back and dozens of police officers had to intervene to keep peace in a city known for welcoming both American tourists and thousands of immigrants every year.
With some exceptions, Mexico has welcomed the Central Americans, offering food and lodging in towns during their journey. The migrants said they were stunned by the hostile attitude in Tijuana.
“We are not criminals. Why do (they) treat us like this if everywhere we have traveled in Mexico they treated us well?” migrants shouted back. “Think about the children who are here, please.”
Recent polls show a sizeable minority of Mexicans opposed to aiding the migrants as they head northward to the United States.
An Oct. 26-28 survey of 1,000 Mexicans by polling firm Consulta Mitofsky showed that 51.4 percent were in favor of helping or protecting the migrants, while 33.8 percent took the opposite view, believing that they should return home. The remaining respondents expressed no opinion.
Since Oct. 19, a total of 3,800 migrants had sought asylum in Mexico, Navarrete said, though some later dropped their applications and returned home. As of now, 2,600 asylum requests were being processed, the minister added.
Tensions began brewing in Tijuana a few days ago when residents complained about a group of 80 or so LGBT migrants who broke away from the caravan and arrived in an upscale part of the Playas de Tijuana neighborhood, near where the stones were thrown.
A popular party town for U.S. tourists, Tijuana has a history of absorbing visitors, including Chinese immigrants in the 19th century. It has a large American population and some 3,000 Haitians settled in the city, just south of San Diego, in 2016 after failing to cross the U.S. border.
But the arrival of hundreds of members of the caravans has stretched to the limit migrant shelters that were already overflowing with people. While Tijuana’s traditional generosity was also on display, with the government setting up a new shelter and citizens offering food and clothing, a harder attitude also emerged.
Reuters gained access to a WhatsApp chat group called “Citizen Blockade” where some 250 members using strong language discussed strategies to harass the migrants or block their arrival.
Tijuana’s city government opened a shelter for 360 people of an estimated 810 that arrived this week, and officials warned there was little room to house more than 2,000 more who are expected to arrive this week.
Mexicans in Tijuana fight off migrants!
Watch at least the first 3 minutes of this clip. Mexicans in Tijuana fight off arriving buses loaded with migrant invaders. At 8:29 you can hear a female migrant shouting “Get me some Pizza! I want Pizza!” to which the Mexican crowd shouts “Get out of here!”
At 13:49 a female is identified as a Soros operative pretending to be a reporter.
Excellent footage in this short clip.
Large rocks thrown by Mexicans to stop invaders from exiting buses.
Some good crowd action. These Mexicans are rightfully angry.
A group of 200 Tijuana residents clash with Central American migrants.
Migrants Meet Local Resistance As They Continue To Stream Into Tijuana
Hundreds more migrants, mostly from Honduras arrived in Tijuana Thursday, bringing the total so far over a thousand. The sight of so many people on the streets is triggering anger and fear among many Mexican residents Mexicans who don’t want them there, leading to violence.
Dallas TV news report
Awwww really
Gee I wonder why
Well how about that, Mexican infighting, the wetbacks fight each other because the Tijuana wet backs were there first, its howdy doody time in beanville folks! Looks like we might have some damn good entertainment down there in the hood.
Throwing rocks my ass, them wets have some gringo guns and bullets down there where the taco is king, and the bitches do the donkey dance.
Well said, Mark. But we ALL know they will be welcomed into and absorbed by the United States.
Thanks mark laughed so hard I think I broke a rib are two
Fkn…. killin me.
I told ya…
Even the Mexicans don’t even want these niggars up here.
Go back home niggars.
We already have all the landscaping and fast food jobs.
Get the fk out of here.
Trump lover that made this video. Another Kool-Aid drinker.
Does this mean the Mexicans are racist?
No surprise the protestors are from up-scale areas of Tijuana…when we took a cab from San Diego Airport down to Ensenada, 100 miles south of Tijuana, one could look to the left toward the mountains and see honest to goodness slums–I’d never seen third world slums before and boy, were they slums! Kinda like the favelas toward the mountains of Rio De Jinero in Brazil…if these caravan folks woulda gone into these slums they likely woulda been hacked to death….
Gee…Them Mexicans are so lucky that they can get away with that. If we did this, we’d get arrested or be demonized in the media and the whole “think of the children” and the whole “oh the humanity” rhetoric would begin.
God bless America, right?
Unfrigginbelievable….