The demonstration was held to commemorate the murder of Mexican David Ángel Villalobos, by an agent of the Border Patrol. Migrants say that this action seeks to make visible the problems of racism and discrimination at the US-Mexico border.
Tijuana, Baja California (November 1, 2020).- Some 50 Mexican and Central American migrants gathered a few meters from the border wall that divides the United States and Mexico, in the Playas de Tijuana area, where they protested against police violence with the burning of two piñatas with the figures of the US President Donald Trump and a Border Patrol officer.
The demonstration was held to remember that on October 23, Mexican citizen David Ángel Villalobos, 30, died when he was shot by an agent of the Border Patrol after they had an argument in a commercial plaza, in San Diego, California, United States.
In tribute to the Mexican migrant, as well as to all those who have died in their attempt to seek the “American dream”, this Saturday, October 31st, groups and organizations came together, first to provide a minute of silence and then with the burning of the piñatas.
The piñatas, made by hand, simulated the figure of Trump and the Border Patrol agent.
“Enough of the abuses against our countrymen and all the migrants who go to the United States,” said Sergio Tamay, president of the Angeles Sin Frontera organization, who expressed his rejection of the anti-immigrant policies that President Trump has imposed.
He recalled that dozens of migrants have died at the hands of Border Patrol agents and so far no case is being investigated, for which he demanded a prompt solution and punishment for the murderer of David Villalobos.
Migrants demand a response to asylum requests
But the protest not only focused on the aggression on the part of the United States officials, but it was also related to the response to the requests for political asylum that Central Americans and Mexicans have made to the United States.
“We do not have the infrastructure or the security,” Tamay said, criticizing the migrants being deported and handed over to the Mexican National Guard, an instance that he said “does Trump’s dirty work” by detaining migrants before they can reach the border.
He assured that Trump mocks Mexico and makes use of the National Guard in his political campaign, so they expect an intervention from President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to remove those agents from the borders and send them to states in Mexico where their presence is needed.
“Trump grabbed us for his campaign and now he mocks saying that he brought Mexico down, that they put 27,000 National Guard soldiers on the border. We also protest against Mexico because we do not want the National Guard to dedicate itself to detaining migrants.” Tamay expressed.
For his part, José María García, from the migrant organization Hostal Juventud 2000, stated that the protest on the beaches of Tijuana had the objective of making visible the problems of racism and discrimination that are increasing every day in the United States against Latinos and especially against undocumented migrants.
“This demonstration is to protest against the bad policy that Trump has towards the immigration issue. He has removed programs and has not wanted to significantly help the communities that come to do honest work in the US,” he declared.
On repeated occasions, the protesters climbed the metal wall located on the beach, where the territorial limit of both nations is marked, an area that is currently prohibited to the public as a preventive measure to prevent contagion of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
Source: El Universal
