Northern Border Cities Are Getting Overwhelmed with Migrants Headed to America Alexandra Zavis - The Los Angeles Times
go to original December 22, 2016

Haitian migrants in Tijuana, Mexico, wait in line to get appointments with American immigration officials (Genaro Molina)

In a surge Mexican officials are calling unprecedented, some 15,000 migrants from outside Latin America passed through Baja California this year — nearly five times the number seen in 2015.

More than a third of the detainees being held in California immigration holding centers in September were from outside Latin America, U.S. officials say.

As they traverse a circuitous and dangerous path up the spine of South America, Central America and Mexico, they have strained resources along the route and presented new challenges for securing America’s southern border.



They have opened a dramatic new chapter in the long story of immigration to the New World. While earlier generations arrived on ocean liners from Europe or on small boats from across the Caribbean, these would-be Americans are tapping networks long used to funnel drugs and migrants overland into the U.S. from Latin America.

Unlike the millions who have traveled over the years from Mexico and Central America, many of those now arriving at America’s southern border are flying across oceans and launching their journeys from deep in South America, across terrain of unimaginable difficulty.

Many say they attempted their trips — by foot, bus, boat and donkey across up to 10 international borders — because they felt unwelcome in Europe and hoped for better luck in the U.S.

By the time they reach America’s door, they have navigated jungles populated by poisonous snakes and narco-traffickers, highways patrolled by corrupt police and borders overrun by predatory smugglers. They whisper stories of robbery, murder, rape and drownings. Many finally reach the U.S. after months of hardship, only to be loaded onto planes and sent back home.

The number of long-distance migrants arriving here in Tijuana pales in comparison to the hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans who pass through each year. But the surge is challenging authorities on both sides of the border, who face difficulties accommodating so many people, languages and cultures.

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