Development: On 27 November, NGO Amnesty International (AI) released a statement in which it denounced the “squalid conditions and unlawful detention” faced by the caravan of Central American migrants currently in the Mexican border city of Tijuana, waiting to seek asylum in the US.
Significance: There are an estimated 5,600 migrants currently housed in an overflowing makeshift shelter in Tijuana’s 'Benito Juárez' sports centre. With an asylum waitlist, described by AI as “quasi-official”, of several thousand names at the border, there is no immediate end in sight to the migrants’ plight, as sanitary and humanitarian conditions worsen and the risk of diplomatic tensions between the US and Mexico rises.
- An attempt by a group of migrants to cross the Tijuana-San Diego border illegally led to violent clashes on 25 November, with US border authorities using tear gas against the migrants who were at the border, which included women and children. Mexico’s national migration institute (INM) has since deported 98 Central American individuals who were arrested for their violent behaviour during the incident.
- On 26 November, Mexico’s foreign ministry (SRE) sent the US a diplomatic note expressing its concern at the incident and asking the US to conduct a full investigation into the use of tear gas on Mexican territory. A spokesperson for the US department of homeland security (DHS) has since defended the use of tear gas by US border patrol agents and said that they would resort to it again if necessary.
- Mexico, which is under pressure to limit the entrance of asylum seekers to the US on the one hand, and respect migrants’ rights on the other, has put in place a voluntary return assistance programme for migrants who wish to turn back, and it is encouraging migrants to regularise their situation and search for employment in Mexico rather than seek asylum in the US.
- The Mexican government has repeatedly expressed its commitment to guaranteeing the human rights of the migrants and condemns the criminalisation of undocumented migrants. However, AI says that Mexican authorities at the border are unlawfully collaborating with US officials to help limit the daily number of asylum seekers. “If Mexico agrees to do the US government’s dirty work at the expense of the caravan members’ dignity and human rights, it is effectively paying for [President Donald] Trump’s shameful border wall,” Erika Guevara-Rosas, AI’s Americas Director, said.
Looking Ahead: All eyes in Mexico are now turning to Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who will be inaugurated as president on 1 December. US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo will not be attending the inauguration ceremony, but he will meet with incoming foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard on 2 December to discuss border issues.
