By Fr Felipe Plascencia Botello SDB - Rector
Since last May there has been a new scenario which constitutes an emergency situation: migrants from various parts of the world, the vast majority of them from Haiti, have started arriving in Tijuana and other border cities. This is now the border with the largest movement of people in the world. Their hope is to be accepted by the US immigration authorities through an asylum application.
The process is slow. The number of migrants admitted each day is small compared to the number of those who arrive. It is currently estimated that there are already about 8,000 Haitians. In addition, figures released last Friday indicate that there are another 4,700 people on the border between Guatemala and Mexico. It is also estimated that there are 17,000 people on their way from Brazil to Mexico who are intending to make the same journey.
The situation has gone beyond the normal capacity of Tijuana, a city already accustomed to the transit of migrants. Hostels and shelters have been overwhelmed. The situation now is that of a city with a double flow of migration, to and from the United States.
The Salesians have been present for almost 30 years, with six oratories, a parish, a free primary school and a refectory - the "Salesian Padre Chava Refectory" which offers food, hospitality, psychological and legal assistance, job training, sanitation and medical care, hairdressing and free phone. On average about 1,200 people avail of its services every day.
The services have increased as a result of the extraordinary presence of migrants and we are preparing a further shelter in one of the Salesian oratories in order to address the emergency.
Among the people willing to lend a hand there are also business people of Tijuana who provide employment to those who decide to stay.
Now, however, the situation is one of real emergency. The Salesians, together with other institutions, are on the border, determined to respond with generosity and mercy, with the certainty that Mary Help of Christians will show us, as Sons of St John Bosco, the way to assist the many people, mostly young people, who have walked thousands of kilometres chasing a dream that perhaps they might never realize.
https://www.infoans.org/en/sections/news/item/1878-mexico-emergency-situation-for-migrants-from-haiti#sigProId5234d34122
