Tijuana at the Crossroads of Migration. Laws, Institutions and Budget to Attend to Migrants in a Violent Region

Abstract

The city of Tijuana has become a necessary stopover for thousands of migrants who, in order to avoid violence and legal complexities, must face a hostile environment. Despite the existence of the Migration Law and the Law on Refugees and Complementary Protection, both from 2011, as well as the creation of the Municipal Directorate of Attention to Migrants (DMAM) in 2015, the Law for the Attention, Protection of the Rights and Support of Migrants in the State of Baja California, enacted in 2021, and the Protocol for Attention to the Migrant Population of 2022, the resources and efforts of the local government are limited, making it difficult to achieve the stated objective of protecting the physical integrity of migrants. The objective of this paper is to explore the legal path followed by those who arrive at the southern border in pursuit of the "American dream", within the context of the violence that has grown exponentially in Mexico and the health emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of this study highlight the importance of international organizations and local civil associations as valuable allies of local authorities in Tijuana.