TIJUANA, Mexico (RTV/NBC) – The number of migrants in Tijuana grew by several hundred Wednesday after more participants arrived from Mexicali.
The Benito Juarez Sports Complex which has been serving as a shelter struggled to accommodate the migrants that continued to arrive.
About 6,000 Central Americans have reached the Mexican border cities of Tijuana and Mexicali, according to local officials. More migrants are making their way toward Tijuana, with around 10,000 expected.
President Donald Trump’s administration is considering giving U.S. troops on the border the authority to carry out medical screening of migrants.
The proposal, which is still in draft form and circulating within the administration, would involve the military in screenings for things like illness and injury only if Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency personnel were overwhelmed and unable to do so on their own.
President Trump, who won the presidency in 2016 after a campaign promising to crack down on illegal immigration, has seized upon migrant caravans headed toward the U.S. border, comparing it to an “invasion.”
Trump has cited an overwhelmed immigration system for his recent proclamation that officials will only process asylum claims for migrants who present themselves at an official entry point along the U.S.-Mexico frontier.
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