Tijuana municipal police intercepted a caravan of roughly 1,500 migrants on Sunday as the group attempted to march toward the U.S. border, deploying officers in riot gear to form a human barrier near the San Ysidro port of entry. The confrontation ended without major violence, but it marks one of the largest single mobilizations of migrants in Tijuana this year and comes during a period of heightened binational tension over migration enforcement.
Police Formed Human Wall on Vía Internacional Near San Ysidro
The caravan departed from the El Chaparral plaza, a staging area near Tijuana’s pedestrian border crossing that has served as a gathering point for asylum seekers since at least 2018. Participants included families with children and individuals from several Central and South American countries, along with migrants from Haiti and other nations. Their stated goal was to reach the border fence area to draw attention to what they described as a stalled asylum process.
Tijuana police positioned officers along Vía Internacional, the road that runs parallel to the border fence on the Mexican side. Officers in riot helmets and shields formed a cordon that blocked the caravan’s forward progress. Video from the scene showed tense but largely nonviolent exchanges between migrants and police. No tear gas or water cannons were used, and Tijuana’s municipal government reported no arrests directly tied to the march.
The mobilization echoes several previous large-scale migrant demonstrations in Tijuana. In November 2018, a caravan of roughly 5,000 Central American migrants overwhelmed the city’s shelter capacity, and a subset rushed the border near the Chaparral crossing. U.S. Customs and Border Protection responded with tear gas that drifted into Mexican territory, an incident that drew international condemnation. Smaller caravans and protests have occurred periodically since then, but Sunday’s march was notable for its size relative to recent months.
Tijuana Shelters Operating Near Capacity Since Early 2025
The city’s network of migrant shelters has been under sustained pressure. Tijuana hosts more than 30 shelters, most operated by churches and nonprofits, with a combined capacity of roughly 5,000 to 7,000 people depending on the source. Organizations like the Ejército de Salvación (Salvation Army) shelter on Calle Coahuila and Espacio Migrante near Zona Norte have reported occupancy rates above 90% for much of 2025.
Several factors are driving the backlog. The CBP One app, which the U.S. government introduced in January 2023 as the primary tool for scheduling asylum appointments at ports of entry, was shut down on January 20, 2025, the day President Trump took office. That system had been processing roughly 1,450 appointments per day across the entire U.S.-Mexico border. Its elimination left tens of thousands of migrants in Mexican border cities with no clear path to request asylum.
At the same time, Mexico’s own immigration enforcement agency, INM (Instituto Nacional de Migración, Mexico’s immigration authority), has increased checkpoints and bus inspections in southern Mexico. But migrants who reach Tijuana often find themselves in legal limbo: unable to cross north legally and reluctant to return south. The population of migrants living in informal camps along the Tijuana River canal and near the border fence has grown steadily since early this year.
Binational Security Cooperation Adds Pressure on Tijuana Officials
Tijuana’s municipal police do not typically handle immigration enforcement, which falls to INM and Mexico’s Guardia Nacional. But the city has faced increasing pressure to prevent large groups from approaching the border infrastructure. The U.S. government has made clear through diplomatic channels that it expects Mexican authorities to manage migrant flows on their side of the line.
For residents of Tijuana’s border-adjacent neighborhoods, including Playas de Tijuana and Zona Norte, large migrant mobilizations can disrupt traffic and commerce along key corridors. The San Ysidro port of entry, which processes roughly 70,000 northbound crossings daily under normal conditions, has seen intermittent lane closures during previous migrant incidents. Sunday’s confrontation did not trigger a port closure, but CBP temporarily increased its alert posture at the pedestrian and vehicle lanes.
Tijuana Mayor Ismael Burgueño has called for federal support to manage the city’s migrant population, arguing that municipal resources are insufficient. The city’s 2025 public safety budget allocates approximately 3.2 billion pesos (around $175 million USD) across all police and emergency services, a figure that does not include dedicated migration management funding.
No further marches have been publicly announced, but organizers told reporters at the scene that additional actions would follow if asylum processing does not resume. This story was first reported by El Imparcial de Tijuana.