At a migrant shelter in Tijuana, fewer Latino families wait near the U.S. border as migration patterns shift under Trump’s second term
To reach the Movimiento Juventud 2000 shelter, you have to cross the streets of Tijuana’s Zona Norte and go down through the area where drugs, sex work, and performances are offered. The shelter, located just a few hundred meters from the wall separating Mexico from the United States, has a capacity for about 170 people, but these days, as the first anniversary of Donald Trump’s second presidency approaches, there are barely 15.
José María García Lara, the center’s director, recalls that at times, this place housed more than 300 people, and the space was overflowing with tents and even sleeping mats. “We filled the kitchen, the playroom, the pantry…,” he remembers, his elbows resting on the glass table in his office.
José María García Lara, the center’s director, recalls that at one point, this place housed more than 300 people, and the space was overflowing with tents and even sleeping mats. “We filled the kitchen, the playroom, the pantry…,” he recalls, his elbows resting on the glass table in his office.
Karen, who prefers not to give her last name for security reasons, said she and her son and husband arrived in Tijuana “with the idea of crossing” into the United States, but while they waited, they ended up settling in the city. They were evicted from their rental and, finding themselves on the street, turned to Juventud 2000. “We’re here to get back on our feet, find a job, a place to rent,” she says, carrying her baby to the showers to bathe him.
Bárbara Rodríguez cleans a space in the shelter while explaining that she is from the Mexican state of Guerrero, but lived for 20 years in the United States, where her five children still live. She says she was tricked into coming to Tijuana to help her overcome her marijuana addiction, but ended up living on the streets. Her dream is to return to her children, but for now, she doesn’t see that as possible and has come to the shelter to have a roof over her head while she looks for work.
“Let’s hope the United States government changes, that it doesn’t forget that thanks to many Mexicans, the work in the fields and factories is carried out…,” says Rodríguez.
