Tijuana Mayor Calls on World to Step in on Migrant Caravan ‘Crisis’
The mayor of Tijuana has declared a "humanitarian crisis" over the arrival of more than 5,000 Central American migrants who have made their way to the Mexican border town, which sits across from San Diego, California, in hopes of claiming asylum in the U.S.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Tijuana Mayor Juan Manuel Gastélum called on the international community, including groups like the United Nations, to step in to address what his government repeatedly called a "humanitarian crisis" in a series of Facebook posts.
The mayor accused the Mexican federal government of failing to do enough to help the small border town deal with the influx of migrants that have arrived in recent days and said as a result, he was forced to appeal to the international community.
"Tijuana faces a humanitarian crisis due to a lack of support from the federal government," a post translated from Spanish from the Tijuana mayor's official Facebook page reads, asserting that now, the mayor must appeal for "humanitarian assistance."
Gastélum claimed that the situation in the border town was costing Tijuana more than 550,000 pesos, or $26,970 a day and said that he refuses to "compromise the city's public services" in order to support migrants taking shelter in the border town.
The mayor's call for international assistance comes as dozens of migrants separated from the caravan to hold a peaceful march to a border crossing in Tijuana, where they demanded better conditions for the thousands of people camping out at a sports center in the border town and pushed to be let into the U.S.
sauce: https://www.newsweek.com/migrant-caravan-tijuana-declares-humanitarian-crisis-calls-world-step-1228606