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Tijuana arrests 34 migrants in caravan on minor charges

By JULIE WATSON and MARK STEVENSON

Associated Press

TIJUANA, Mexico — Officials in the Mexican border city of Tijuana said they have arrested 34 members of the caravan of Central American migrants for minor offenses and turned them over for deportation,

A Tijuana city statement late Monday said the 34 — apparently all men — were arrested for drug possession, public intoxication, disturbing the peace and resisting police, and added they would be deported to their home countries. The main caravan has between 4,000 and 6,000 participants, so those arrested represent less than 1 percent of the total.

Tijuana Mayor Juan Manuel Gastelum has made a point of saying the city is not comfortable with the caravan that began arriving last week, and he compared the Central American group unfavorably with about 3,000 Haitians who ended up in this city bordering San Diego on a failed bid to reach the United States last year.

“The Haitians arrived with their papers, with a clear vision,” Gastelum said in an interview posted on the city’s Facebook page. They came “in an orderly way, they never asked us for food or shelter,” renting apartments and making their own food. He said the Haitians found jobs and “inserted themselves in the city’s economy” and had not been involved in any disturbances.

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