Tijuana mayor declares ‘humanitarian crisis’ over migrants

Migrant children rest on the ground in front of a line of Mexican police in riot gear, after they tried to cross the Chaparral border crossing in Tijuana, Mexico, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2018. The children, part of a group of Central American migrants, marched peacefully to the border crossing to demand better conditions and push to enter the U.S. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) Migrant children rest on the ground in front of a line of Mexican police in riot gear, after they tried to cross the Chaparral border crossing in Tijuana, Mexico, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2018. The children, part of a group of Central American migrants, marched peacefully to the border crossing to demand better conditions and push to enter the U.S. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

By Associated Press November 23, 2018 3 min read

TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) – The mayor of Tijuana has declared a humanitarian crisis in his border city and said Friday that he has asked the United Nations for aid to deal with the approximately 5,000 Central American migrants who have arrived.

Mayor Juan Manuel Gastelum said that the Mexican federal government has provided little assistance and he is not going to commit the city’s public resources to dealing with the situation. He said 4,976 migrants had come to the city.

“We don’t have sufficient and necessary infrastructure to adequately attend to these people, to give them a decent space,” he said on Grupo Formula radio.

On Thursday, his government issued a statement saying that it was requesting help from the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

“I am not going to spend the money of Tijuana (citizens),” Gasteulum said in the statement.