On Friday, all that remained of the formerly bustling migrant quarter around the Barretal shelter was a small camp around the corner, only partially covered by a tin roof. The conditions are far from comfortable, but the occupants said it was better than sleeping on sidewalks.
Most were not yet ready to give up trying to enter the United States, but knew of others who had. Elde Rodriguez, 26, said he had left Honduras hoping to send money back to his wife and daughter. Believing that he would not qualify for asylum, he tried last week to cross the border illegally but he and a friend were unable to find their away across and turned back.
“There’s enough work here in Mexico, and you can live on that if you’re alone. But you can’t make enough to send money home, and that’s the point about all this,” he said. “If I can’t get in, I’ll just keep trying.”
While Tijuana appears to be emptying, large groups of migrants have accumulated in other areas along the border as a result of the new policies. After a riot the day before, authorities in Mexico said on Friday that they would disband a group of 1,400 Central American asylum seekers who had been waiting in the city of Piedras Negras to cross the border into Eagle Pass, Tex., according to news reports.
The Trump administration has said that the latest policy requiring asylum seekers to wait in Mexico, which it called Migrant Protection Protocols, is a vital response to a crisis at the border. Kirstjen Nielsen, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, has said the policy aims to alleviate a humanitarian crisis on the border and secure the United States. Introduced as a pilot program across the border from San Diego, the administration plans to expand the policy into Texas.
Border Patrol apprehensions of families along the southwest border remain near all-time highs, though there was a slight downward turn in January, as is often the case, according the latest government figures. Customs and Border Protection said more than 1,800 Central American parents and children crossed the border illegally on Monday, the largest number of families recorded on a single day. And like other asylum policies of this administration, the “remain in Mexico” policy has already drawn legal scrutiny, leaving its future uncertain.
