The first shelter along the U.S./Mexico border specifically for Muslim migrants has opened in Tijuana. The 8,000-square-foot combination mosque/shelter is the brainchild of a nonprofit called the Latina Muslim Foundation, which raised nearly half a million dollars to buy and repurpose an old warehouse previously used for social gatherings. The opening ceremony this past weekend was led by the foundation president, Sonia García, a former Catholic and now Muslim convert. Ms. García said that her experience working with Tijuana shelters had made her aware of the growing number of Muslims seeking asylum in the United States.
“They were in hotels or shelters without a proper place for worship or halal food,” García said. The new Refugee Empowerment Center & Transitional Shelter hopes to change all that by offering housing, food, clothing, and legal, medical, psychological, and dental assistance to Muslim asylum seekers. So far, it is home to migrants from Kenya, Ghana, Russia, and Afghanistan, among others.
Reporting on the new center, Breitbart notes that the mosque will have “plenty of customers.”
In May, at least 239,416 illegal border crossers were encountered. Of these, 106,999–almost all from Mexico and Central America–were rejected under Title 42. The remaining 138,717 not rejected were “global arrivals” from a wide variety of countries, including Armenia, Kyrgystan, Russia, Ukraine, Angola, Bangladesh, Cameroon, China, Georgia, India, Nigeria, Romania, Somalia, Senegal, and Turkey. Among them were thousands of Muslims.
Given the increasing numbers of such “extra-continentals” clamoring to enter the U.S., no doubt many more mosques will be required on both sides of the border.
For more, see Breitbart and the San Diego Union-Tribune.