Tijuana authorities seek help as sickness spreads through migrant camp

Tijuana’s authorities are increasingly concerned about the spread of diseases in the city, as 5,000 members of the migrant “caravan” camp in temporary shelters, awaiting the chance to apply for asylum in the United States.

The government of Baja California – the state in which the Mexican border city lies – has treated hundreds of migrants for respiratory infections and other ailments.

On Friday they reported treating 818 respiratory infections and providing 1,286 general medical consultations to members of the migrant caravan, who are living inside a converted sports centre in downtown Tijuana.

Inside the shelter, Paula Cortes, 21, and her family huddled around a 2-year-old baby Isaac, who lay feverish, listless and covered with blankets.

“He’s very, very sick,” said Ms Cortes, speaking to the San Diego Union-Tribune. “I’m too worried right now but they won’t send a doctor in here. They told us to take him outside to the medical tent.”

Juan Manuel Gastelum, mayor of the border city, has declared a humanitarian crisis and appealed to the United Nations for help.

He has also criticised the Mexican government for not doing enough, accusing them of “categorically omitting and not complying with their legal obligations.”

He added: “So, we’re now asking them, and international humanitarian aid groups, to bring in and carry out humanitarian assistance.”

The Mexican government has talked about sending 20 tons of resources to Tijuana to help, but Mr Gastelum pointed out that 15 tons of that consisted of materials to reinforce the border and only five tons were for the migrants.

Manuel Figueroa, who leads the city's social services department, said Tijuana was bringing in portable toilets and showers, as well as shampoo and soap.

"Because of the absence, the apathy and the abandonment of the federal government, we are having to turn to international institutions like the UN," he said.

Some of the migrants staged a small demonstration at the city's Chaparral border crossing on Thursday, and a few dozen spent the night there. Police cordoned off the streets around the crossing on Friday, slowing the border traffic, but by the evening the migrants had returned to the shelter after the authorities warned them they risked deportation.