A couple of days ago we reported that the Department of Homeland Security was moving quickly to abandon the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), better known as “Remain in Mexico.” Now the Fox TV News affiliate in San Diego is saying one group in particular over in Tijuana is anxious to take advantage of the policy reversal.
That group is the many Haitians who have taken up residence in the northern Mexico city, waiting for their chance to get into America. Natives of Haiti, as well as those of Mexico and Central America, last week were exempted by the Biden administration from Title 42 expulsion and are now free to enter the U.S. under “humanitarian parole.” With that out of the way and with the abolition of MPP, the only thing preventing them is the formality of applying for asylum.
That process has to be completed somewhere that offers immigration services, such as at a shelter or a migrant support office. The problem is, all of those places are currently slammed by other migrants. So the Haitians wait. And while they wait, they do everything in the street: they loiter, sleep, urinate, defecate, and leave trash. Tijuana residents say the migrants make them feel unsafe, but if they complain, they are accused of being racist. Border Report says banners in Creole have been placed outside the shelters telling the migrants they can’t stay in the neighborhood and that immigration services are not available. The Haitians pay no attention.
Border Report quotes one local, identified only as Magdalena, who lives near the Salvation Army shelter:
They’re under the idea that, “if we’re here they’ll have to help us.” The problem is the trash they leave behind, they get into driveways and go to the bathroom and they’re doing things they’re not supposed to be doing … they sleep on the streets and we don’t feel safe. The banners say they can’t camp out here, they can’t remain in the area but they just ignore it. They’ve been told clearly in their own language there’s no space for them.
Soon, Magdalena will not have to worry about this particular crop of migrants. They will be safely across the border in California, the Promised Land, most of them forever.
For more, see the Border Report.