Tijuana mayor declares "humanitarian crisis" over migrants, asks UN for help

FILE ART- Central American migrants seek refuge in Tijuana, Mexico.



"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.


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



But in those places, the caravan stayed at most two nights - with the exception of Mexico City. In Tijuana, many of the migrants who are fleeing violence and poverty want to request asylum in the United States and face the prospect of spending months in the border city before they have the opportunity to speak with a U.S. official.



Gastelum also criticized the federal government for not taking more seriously U.S. President Donald Trump's threat Thursday to shut down the entire border if things get out of control in Tijuana.

"That's serious," he said.


"Thousands of people from Tijuana work in the United States, they arrive late to their jobs," he said. "From the United States the tourism isn't coming here. The people aren't coming to the medical sector. The situation is becoming uncomfortable."