¡Ayuda Ahora! Inside the Migrant Caravan in Tijuana

by Thanh Mai Bercher,

Given the recent and prolonged drought along the West Coast, we might assume the rain now falling in Baja Mexico would be welcomed by many. But in El Barretal, an open-air concert venue that has housed as many as 3,000 asylum seekers from Central America, the intense weather poses many challenges. Many asylum seekers sleep outside in tents and makeshift shelters, some structured from leftover concert posters they pulled down from the walls.

As a community health worker and human rights advocate, I came to Tijuana two months ago to share information, consolidate relief efforts, and encourage action to support asylum seekers. It had been just one week since the world witnessed how approximately 5,000 people arriving near San Ysidro — the busiest border crossing in the world — from Mexico City were met at the border fence with tear gas. Since then, asylum seekers have continued to move between shelters, safe houses, and government-run camps, finding minimal comfort between formal and informal spaces.

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