TIJUANA (Border Report) — Migrants staying at the Ágape Shelter in Tijuana staged a protest at the State Commission for Public Services in Tijuana (CESPT) demanding the water be turned on again.

Pastor Albert Rivera, who runs the facility, says they have gone 10 days without potable water.

During the event, migrants could be heard chanting “Don’t cut the water,” “Our children are getting sick due to the lack of water,” and “We are getting sick without water.”

“We’ve gone 10 days with this serious problem, but this has gone on for three years when every week they cut service for several days at a time,” said Rivera.

Rivera said he is calling on Baja California Gov. Pilar Ávila Olmeda to make migrant shelters exempt from routine outages and to forgo service fees like it happened last year.

Migrants hold signs asking Baja California’s State Public Services Commission to restore water service to their shelter. (Jorge Nieto/Special for Border Report)

Rivera also said it’s not just his shelter that has no water, but the entire neighborhoods in the area where they are located.

CESPT is carrying out significant repairs to the water delivery system throughout Tijuana and often cuts out service to wide portions of the city.

Last week, more than half of residents went days without service.

“It’s a violation of human rights to leave so many migrants without water for this long, 85 percent of migrants are Mexican,” said Rivera.

On Monday afternoon, Rivera sent word to Border Report that CESPT and the governor’s office had pledged to restart service by early Monday evening.