TIJUANA (Border Report) — During the last few weeks, an estimated 6,500 Haitian migrants have arrived in the city of Tijuana and Northern Baja California, according to the Citizens Defense Committee for Naturalized African Americans.
The Haitian migrants are said to have made their way from Central America and through Mexico to reach the California-Mexico border.
And estimates say another 30,000 are on their way and could arrive in northern Mexican cities such as Tijuana and Mexicali in the coming weeks.
The state of Baja California’s Secretary of Health and other government agencies are being asked to help the migrants, especially those arriving in poor medical shape.
José María García Lara, director of Tijuana’s Migrant Alliance, says Haitian families keep arriving every day.
“We’re getting hundreds every week, primarily those who started their journey in Chile and they get here with very little in terms of paperwork, not much we can do for them,” stated García Lara.

As a way to help Haitians who find themselves in limbo in the city of Tijuana, a Southern California group called Haitian Bridge Alliance, organized an event south of the border to distribute food, clothing, shoes and advice to the migrants.
“The Haitian community, they are suffering a lot of racism, they have shelter needs and humanitarian support,” said Guerline Jozef, one of the Haitian Bridge organizers. “We want to let them know that we are here for them, we see them also to let them know about their rights as migrants to the United States and how we are going to provide support for them here in Tijuana, Mexico.”
Jozef and other volunteers handed out cans of food, beanies and shirts to migrants like Jacksoli, who arrived in Tijuana last week.

“We can’t find housing, we don’t sleep well, we don’t have anything to eat, we have to sleep on the streets,” he said.
Others had similar stories about their struggles trying to survive in Tijuana.
“We are suffering because we don’t have homes, they won’t give us jobs and much less, we all know we are not wanted in the United States,” said a man named Evans.
The city of Tijuana has said it’s trying to help the Haitian migrants, but there’s not much it can do considering the city is overwhelmed with migrants from all over the world.
And as of now, all the region’s shelters are saturated with migrants and don’t have room for anyone else.