Thousands of Haitians and Africans arrive in Tijuana, Mexico, to seek asylum in the US

A Haitian man holds his daughter while waiting for service at a field office of the Instituto Nacional de Migracion so they can receive needed documentation to solicit their asylum appointment with US Customs and Immigration Service. They will also seek lodging at the Desayunador Salesino Padre Chava. AztlanPhoto /Peter Eversoll
A migrant from Congo wraps himself in a blanket to keep warm on a cold morning in Tijuana, Mexico. AztlanPhoto /Peter Eversoll
Migrants from Haiti and Africa at dawn waiting for a field office of the Instituto Nacional de Migracion to open up so they can receive needed documentation to solicit their asylum appointment with US Customs and Immigration Service. The field office is located next to the Desayunador Salesino Padre Chava in Tijuana, Mexico. AztlanPhoto /Peter Eversoll
Etienne, from Haiti, sits on the curb in front of the Desayunador Salesino Padre Chava. He is waiting for his appointment with US Customs and Immigration. AztlanPhoto /Peter Eversoll
Haitian migrants stand in the shade outside the Desayunador Salesino Padre Chava in Tijuana, Mexico. AztlanPhoto /Peter Eversoll
African and Haitian migrants stand in the sun outside the Desayunador Salesino Padre Chava in Tijuana, Mexico. They are waiting for service at a field office of the Instituto Nacional de Migracion so they can receive needed documentation to solicit their asylum appointment with US Customs and Immigration Service. AztlanPhoto /Peter Eversoll
A group of migrants from Haiti wait at Desayunador Salesino Padre Chava in Tijuana, Mexico. They are seeking asylum in the United States. AztlanPhoto /Peter Eversoll
A boy pushes a toy car across the patio of Desayunador Salesino Padre Chava in Tijuana, Mexico. His family is waiting for an appointment with US Immigration to ask for asylum.
African and Haitian migrants stand in the sun outside the Desayunador Salesino Padre Chava in Tijuana, Mexico. They are waiting for service at a field office of the Instituto Nacional de Migracion so they can receive needed documentation to solicit their asylum appointment with US Customs and Immigration Service. AztlanPhoto /Peter Eversoll
Ahmed, from Kashmir State, Pakistan has spent over three weeks in Tijuana with his wife and four children. Their journey has lasted over 6 months. They are seeking asylum in the United States and have to wait one more week for their appointment with US immigration officials. AztlanPhoto /Peter Eversoll
Haitian migrants sit in the shade at the Desayunador Salesino Padre Chava in Tijuana, Mexico. They are waiting news about their asylum procedure. Often they must wait weeks for their appointment with USICS officials. AztlanPhoto /Peter Eversoll
Haitian migrants seeking asylum in the United States wait in a shelter at the Desayunador Salesino Padre Chava in Tijuana, Mexico. AztlanPhoto /Peter Eversoll
A Haitian migrant waits among other people seeking assistance at the Desayunador Salesino Padre Chava in Tijuana, Mexico. The Desayunador serves up to 1500 people daily, many migrants and deportees. The recent wave of migrants from Haiti, Africa and Asia have stressed the capacity of this organization. AztlanPhoto /Peter Eversoll
A man from Ghana stands in the sun outside the Desayunador Salesino Padre Chava in Tijuana, Mexico. He is waiting to speak with Mexican immigration officials and get a free breakfast at the Desayunador. AztlanPhoto /Peter Eversoll
A man stands in front of the Desayunador Salesino Padre Chava, Tijuana, Mexico. AztlanPhoto /Peter Eversoll
A man from Haiti stands in the sun. The Tijuana Arc and cheap pharmacies are in the background, classic symbols of this Mexican border city. AztlanPhoto /Peter Eversoll

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Over the last few weeks migrants from Africa, Haiti and Pakistan have been arriving in droves to Tijuana, Mexico. This is the second large wave of people from these areas who are using Tijuana as a gateway to the United States in their quest to get political asylum. More than 5,000 have arrived over the last few months, most are from Haiti, but others are from Democratic Republic of Congo, the Gambia, and Ghana; there are also a few families from Pakistan. However, the true nationality of many is uncertain to immigration officials, as migrants are claiming to be from African nations in order to get around the Obama administration’s new stance on limiting Haitian asylum requests which puts those without visas on a fast-track deportation process.

Many of these migrants have traveled through South and Central America, taking as much as 6 months to make the journey to Tijuana, while others enter by airplane with visas. Some Haitians were previously living in Brazil, given asylum status after the 2010 earthquake that devastated the island nation. The problem, for both migrants and migrant outreach organizations, is that there is a wait for asylum interviews, often between 3 and 4 weeks (although, many Haitian migrants have reported that recently US Immigration and Customs Service has been granting them faster appointment dates.) Once their money for food and hotels run out, they must seek assistance from local organizations such as El Desayunador Salesiano Padre Chava and La Casa del Migrante, where they line up every morning to get assistance, secure lodging for the night and consult with Mexican immigration officials about their cases.