More than 4,700 Caravan arrival at the Tijuana border

Conditions are rapidly deteriorating inside the makeshift refuge at the Unidad Deportiva Benito Juárez sports center in Tijuana, where about 4,500 Central American migrants are sheltered, and Tijuana officials are scrambling to find another location for new arrivals.

Federal officials on both sides of the border estimated another 1,200 migrants arrived by bus and foot from Mexicali between Tuesday night and Wednesday afternoon, adding to the already cramped and unsanitary state inside the sports arena.

Thousands more Central Americans traveling through Mexico are on the way to Tijuana, according to the latest estimates from U.S. Customs and Border Protection field offices. They calculate about 2,300 more people in caravans are trudging through the Mexican states of Jalisco and Querétaro towards Baja California, with a likely destination of Tijuana.

Other groups numbering in the hundreds are scattered throughout Mexico in Sonora and Mexicali, according to CBP.

Mexican federal officials and Tijuana leaders say Benito Juárez cannot handle any more arrivals while maintaining safe and sanitary conditions. Frustration and exhaustion is mounting among groups of migrants who have been traveling under harsh conditions for weeks.

“I would describe the conditions inside as still manageable and somewhat in order, but if more people arrive, it’s just impractical to shelter more people here, the shelter is going to be overcome,” said Edgar Corzo Sosa, Mexico’s national director of human rights, who is in Tijuana to monitor the caravan.