Members of the Central American migrant caravan have taken to sleeping on the streets in Mexico after heavy rains and flooding forced a mass exodus of an overcrowded shelter near the U.S. border.
Women and children were among those pictured with their soaking wet belongings on the street in Tijuana on Saturday as they waited for buses to arrive to take them to a new shelter.
Many were spotted resting in their tents on the street after the initial shelter, which was set up in a sports complex, had services cut off on Friday.
Torrential rains during the week reduced the old shelter to a muddy, smelly mess.
Authorities were trying to persuade the migrants to move to a new, more distant shelter in a former outdoor Tijuana concert venue.
Women and children were among those pictured with their soaking wet belongings on the street in Tijuana on Saturday as they waited for buses to arrive to take them to a new shelter
But Saturday afternoon, most of the thousands of migrants who had camped out at the sports complex had agreed to move to the new location.
Others, however, decided to try their luck camping in the street near the former shelter or look for their own accommodation.
Mexican authorities began moving many of the migrants out of the overcrowded shelter in buses on Friday.
Still, as many as half the 6,000 or so migrants who have been staying at the sports complex were milling around at midafternoon, apparently unwilling to relocate to the new shelter much farther from the border.
Alejandro Magallanes, an assistant to the director of the city's social services department, said officials hoped to bus as many migrants as possible Friday.
Concerns had been growing over unhealthy conditions at the muddy sports field where migrants are sleeping in small tents.
Magallanes said nobody would be forced to move to the new facility, a large building and concrete patio known as El Barretal that has been used for concerts and other events up until about six years ago.
But city officials planned to stop offering food and medical services at the Benito Juarez sports complex next to the border on Friday, and any migrants who stay will have to find their own food.
A woman rests inside a tent on the street near a sports complex shelter as authorities tried to persuade migrants to move to a new, more distant shelter, in Tijuana
People pick their belongings at the Benito Juarez shelter in Tijuan after Mexico's health office closed the shelter due to hygiene issues
Concerns had been growing over unhealthy conditions at the muddy sports field where migrants are sleeping in small tents
Carlos Padilla, a 57-year old who sold jewelry as a street vendor in Honduras, waited outside the flooded sports complex as it was being cleared out by authorities. He was with a 12-year-old boy who he took under his wing after the boy's parents left the caravan to return to Honduras.
Sitting on a curb with soaking wet shoes and socks that he keeps on at night for fear they will be stolen, Padilla said he slept on canopy-covered pavement at the sports complex but wind blew water through exposed sides.
Bathrooms were flooded and there was no toilet paper.
'It was terrible,' said Padilla, who hopes to claim asylum with the boy in the U.S. and join a brother in Los Angeles. 'It was like (sleeping) on the beach.'
Jose Castro, a 45-year-old banana picker from Honduras, said he had slept with his wife and their two daughters, ages 4 and 5, under wet cotton sheets on an open field inside the shelter. He plans to seek asylum in the US.
Asked to describe conditions at the sports complex, he could only croak 'mud, water, wind,' having nearly lost his voice with a bad cough.
Experts had expressed concerns about unsanitary conditions at the sports complex, where more than 6,000 migrants have been packed into a space adequate for half that many people. Mud, lice infestations and respiratory infections were rampant.
Magallanes said many migrants squeezed into a gymnasium at the outdoor sports complex amid a steady downpour Thursday night. The complex was covered with mud from the storm. On Friday, rain was intermittent with breaks in the clouds.
Some migrants had found work near the sports complex and were unsure about moving to a place they did not know, though it meant they would have a roof over their heads.
Authorities and residents in Tijuana are concerned the migrants might try to make another mass rush across the border. Their first attempt last weekend led to a brief closure of border crossings that Tijuana residents use to reach jobs and shopping on the U.S. side.
The new shelter is a former outdoor concert venue with walls and buildings on all four sides to create a single entry and exit. Federal authorities leased the compound from a private owner.
Mexican authorities began moving many of the migrants out of the overcrowded shelter in buses on Friday
Migrants pack up their belongings at a closed temporary shelter for members of the caravan. Authorities closed the squalid open-air shelter next to the U.S.-Mexico border fence and bussed thousands of migrants to a different facility
A migrant helps clean up trash as most Central Americans leave a sports complex shelter that authorities closed on Friday
A man walks amidst discarded belongings as most Central Americans leave a sports complex shelter that authorities closed
Mario Figueroa, Tijuana's social development director, said the shelter could accommodate more than 10,000 people, most of them on the outdoor concrete courtyard where audiences listened to bands before the venue closed.
About 1,500 migrants had arrived by midafternoon and everyone at the old shelter was expected to be transferred by the end of the day, Figueroa said.
Families and children are priorities for covered areas, Figueroa said.
A room that was once used for parties can accommodate about 500 families, he said.
The floors are all concrete, which will prevent the ground turning to mud as it did in the previous shelter.
Franklin Sasa, a 20-year-old bus dispatcher from Honduras who hopes to seek asylum in the U.S., said the previous shelter was a disaster.
'The conditions are better,' he said near a line of men waiting for a haircut at the new shelter. 'There's no mud.'
Meanwhile, several migrants swam around or climbed over the border barrier overnight and were detained by U.S. officials.
Six men and one woman jumped or slipped over the border barrier in Tijuana and were quickly detained by customs and border protection agents.
One Honduran man tried to swim to the U.S. side but quickly got in trouble in the rough waters of the Pacific. A Mexican rescue team forcibly pulled him ashore and put him into an ambulance.
Link hienalouca.com
https://hienalouca.com/2018/12/02/members-of-the-migrant-caravan-sleep-on-the-streets-in-mexico/
Main photo article Members of the Central American migrant caravan have taken to sleeping on the streets in Mexico after heavy rains and flooding forced a mass exodus of an overcrowded shelter near the U.S. border.
Women and children were among those pictured with their soaking wet belongings on the street ...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves US News HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2018/12/02/17/6909528-6451993-image-a-37_1543772398274.jpg
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