By Lizbeth Diaz

TIJUANA, Reuters – Hundreds of migrants arrived in Tijuana and other border towns to seek asylum. They are encouraged by the news that Mexico and the United States will reopen their shared land-border crossings.

After a twenty-month-long closure to stop the spread of COVID-19, the border crossing nearly 2,000 miles (3,200 km) will reopen Monday. Both sides have been able to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and have successfully vaccinated their border communities.

After the surge in migration from Central America and Caribbean areas this year, President Joe Biden was forced to increase the pressure to make the United States’ border more secure.

“I am going to do it. We need to cross the border. Mexico is not a place I want to live. Andrea Morales from Guatemala said that there is a lot violence in Mexico. She has lived for the past month in a tent camp near Tijuana’s El Chaparral border crossing.

Four days ago, our lights were taken away by the government and we were fenced in as animals. Morales, who was standing beside her child amid many tents, said that she had placed her faith in God to cross the border and provide a better future for my children.

    Local authorities angered migrants last week when they threw away tents and other belongings that had been left in the camp they have occupied since February.

“MISINFORMATION”

Advocates for migrants claim that many have been misled by border restarts regarding their chances of asylum.

There is a lot misinformation. “There is a lot of misinformation.” Jose Garcia, the head of Movimiento Juventud 2000, Tijuana’s migrant shelter, stated that only people with papers and visas can reopen the border.

“They don’t listen to us, and they don’t want the wait,” he said. He also stated that since October 15, the shelter’s population had increased by three-quarters.

Also, Mexicans are arriving.

Tijuana migrants claimed they fled violence in Mexico and were seeking asylum.

The Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre reported that 9,700 Mexicans had been forced to flee violence in 2020. That’s a threefold increase from last year.

Many migrants are stuck in Mexico, waiting months or even weeks for an answer to their asylum petitions.

    “I never left with the intention of staying in Mexico. Augusto Martinez, from Honduras arrived in Tijuana just three weeks back with his wife and five kids. We’re going to cross.