“It’s Very Hard to Have Rights” | The Impact of COVID-19 on Refugee and Migrant Communities in Tijuana (Report from Partners Espacio Migrante and Haitian Bridge Alliance)
Acknowledgements
Primary Investigators and Authors
Tania García Barajas, Espacio Migrante
April J. Mayes, Haitian Bridge Alliance
Paulina Olvera Cáñez, Espacio Migrante
Domila P. Pazzini, Espacio Migrante
Collaborators
Yael Schacher, Senior U.S. Advocate, Refugees International
Data Analysis
Susana A. Garrido Cedeño, Sociocultural Researcher
Data Visualizations
Aviva Shwayder, Communications & Design Manager, Refugees International
Investigators
John Lazarre, Community Organizer, Haitian Bridge Alliance
Katerine Girón, Community Organizer, Espacio Migrante
Josiane Moukam, Community Organizer, Espacio Migrante
Alberto Chávez, Cultural and community coordinator, Espacio Migrante
Christoph Faustin, Interviewer, Espacio Migrante
Jean Denis Louis, Interviewer, Espacio Migrante
Sherline Vramblin, Interviewer, Espacio Migrante
Administrative Support
Sarahí Soto Valencia, Director of Finance, Espacio Migrante
Editors
Hardin Lang, Vice President of Programs and Policy, Refugees International
Eric Schwartz, President, Refugees International
About the Authors
Tania García Barajas is coordinator of the Legal Clinic at Espacio Migrante and professor at the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California. She is committed to the defense of and access to human rights for individuals, families, children, and adolescents in the context of migration. At Espacio Migrante, she helps with community work, advocacy, and accompaniment for migrant communities.
April J. Mayes is treasurer of the Board of Haitian Bridge Alliance and an associate professor of History at Pomona College where she teaches classes in Afro-Latin American Studies, Latin American women’s and gender history, and Mexico-United States Borderlands history. She is also a co-founder of the Transnational Hispaniola collective, an intellectual social formation that supports cross-border and transnational work in Dominican and Haitian Studies.
Paulina Olvera Cáñez is the founder and executive director of Espacio Migrante and has years of experience in culturally based community organizing. She is pursuing a master’s degree in Latin American Studies at the University of California, San Diego. Her research examines the experiences of Haitian and African migrants in Baja California, their access to rights, and institutional racism.
Domila P. Pazzini is a board member of Espacio Migrante. She is pursuing a Ph.D. in Social Sciences at the State University of Campinas, Brazil. Her research is focused on the mobility of Haitians who left Brazil, traveled throughout Latin America, and now live in Tijuana.
About the Organizations
Espacio Migrante is a binational community organization based in Tijuana, which supports migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and people on the move. Espacio Migrante works directly with diverse migrant communities from Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa, including migrant children, youth, and adults. Espacio Migrante has a shelter for asylum-seeking families, a Cultural and Community Center, and a Legal Clinic. Espacio Migrante’s mission is to create a safe space where migrants can access educational and cultural programs and receive comprehensive support in their migration process. Through cultural and community dialogue, Espacio Migrante defends and promotes human rights and social, racial, and gender justice in migrant communities.
Haitian Bridge Alliance (“HBA”) is a nonprofit community organization based in San Diego and Orange County. HBA advocates for fair and humane immigration policies and connects migrants with humanitarian, legal, and social services, with a particular focus on Black migrants, the Haitian community, women, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and survivors of torture and other human rights abuses. Since 2015, HBA has provided services to asylum seekers and other migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, in U.S. detention, and during U.S. immigration proceedings. As HBA Co-Founder and Executive Director Guerline Jozef says, “We went to the U.S.-Mexico border to help our Haitian brothers and sisters, but we saw Africans and Central Americans in need as well. We stayed for everyone else.”
Refugees International has been very pleased to support this research and this report. Refugees International is an independent non-profit organization based in Washington, DC that advocates for lifesaving assistance, human rights, and protection for displaced people all over the world. Refugees International believes it critical that organizations working with displaced people and forced migrants outside the United States have opportunities to share their views with the broadest possible public and policy-making audience in the United States and beyond. Refugees International is committed to playing a role in facilitating this very important form of advocacy from individuals and organizations most significantly affected by the migration policies of the United States and other countries of transit or destination.
Executive Summary
In this report we show that militarized migration enforcement measures, changes in documentation policies, and border closures violate Mexican, U.S., and international law and that these deterrence policies made communities of asylum seekers, refugees, and migrants in Tijuana vulnerable to the impacts of COVID-19. Our study reveals the institutional barriers that migrants—and especially non-Spanish speaking and Black migrants—have faced in Tijuana during the pandemic, especially regarding employment and access to housing and services. Our study also shows the impacts of official and societal bias and racism on migrants and asylum seekers. Our hope is that the survey and interviews analyzed here will inform future funding and advocacy priorities that uphold migrant rights. We recommend policy changes that will help address discrimination and better meet the needs of migrants, particularly concerning documentation, legal status, and access to services.
Methodology
Study Background
Especially at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020, many migrants in Tijuana—particularly Africans and Haitians and those not living in shelters—were struggling to meet their basic needs and were not eligible for assistance from the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Between April 2020 and June 2021, community organizers working for Espacio Migrante and Haitian Bridge Alliance conducted phone surveys with 335 Central American, Haitian, and African migrants and asylum seekers to assess their needs and approve them for a cash assistance program run by the two organizations. Espacio Migrante and Haitian Bridge Alliance provided qualified applicants with prepaid cards they used to purchase food, medicine, and other essential items. The initial survey among the 335 people who received cash assistance forms the basis of this study’s quantitative data. Of those surveyed, 92 were Spanish-speakers from Latin America and the Caribbean; 100 people were from 13 African countries; 141 people were from Haiti; and two were English-speakers from Jamaica. The survey included questions about language, family composition, immigration status, and inquiries about access to education, housing, employment, and health care. The survey also included open-ended questions about migration plans, and community and familial needs.
Languages spoken by those surveyed from Latin America, Haiti, and Africa.
After an initial review of the surveys, the research team decided to conduct qualitative interviews to address some issues in more depth. Over two weekends in October 2020, the organizations conducted three focus groups meetings, with Latin Americans (the majority of whom were from Northern Triangle countries, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala), Africans, and Haitians to home in on their distinct experiences. Participants in the focus groups, drawn from those who had been surveyed, received small payments for their time and to cover their transportation costs. The final stage of the research occurred in late 2020 through spring 2021 and involved observing and documenting changes in U.S. and Mexican immigration and border policies. This report draws on the results of the survey, focus group interviews, and participant observation. We also compare our findings to those of other studies done of migrant populations in Tijuana.
Ethical Considerations, Holistic Stance
This study is grounded in the holistic approaches and community-based strategies that characterize the way Espacio Migrante and Haitian Bridge Alliance work with migrants and asylum seekers. At the heart of Espacio Migrante’s philosophy is community building and grassroots organizing through intercultural exchange, cultural events, active listening exercises, community meetings, and interviews. Espacio Migrante uses community-based events to transmit information and to train and equip migrants to be advocates for themselves and for other community members. Like Espacio Migrante, the staff of Haitian Bridge Alliance make it a point to learn from migrants and to create action strategies in keeping with their articulated needs and priorities. HBA also considers that anti-blackness is a fundamental pillar of immigration policies throughout the Americas. Moreover, HBA works from the assumption that discrimination and prejudice based on gender, sexuality, location, ability, class, and legal status cannot be separated from the fact of one’s blackness. In essence, Haitian Bridge Alliance employs an explicitly anti-racist and intersectional approach in its work with migrants and asylum seekers and advocates that these perspectives to inform any and all work with Black migrants.
Espacio Migrante and Haitian Bridge Alliance work diligently to create and maintain bonds of trust with migrant communities in Tijuana most notably by hiring staff members from the communities they serve. Not only does having Central American, African, and Haitian people on staff help build trust between the organizations and migrants, but these staff members also transform the work of the organizations because they determine which needs and services to prioritize. The community organizers who work with Espacio Migrante are cultural brokers and bridge builders. They called and surveyed everyone who received cash assistance. This work was made possible by the depth of trust they had built with community members.
A Note on Support from Refugees International
Refugees International has been very pleased to support this research and this report. Refugees International is an independent non-profit organization based in Washington, DC that advocates for lifesaving assistance, human rights, and protection for displaced people all over the world. Refugees International believes it critical that organizations working with displaced people and forced migrants outside the United States have opportunities to share their views with the broadest possible public and policy-making audience in the United States and beyond. Refugees International is committed to playing a role in facilitating this very important form of advocacy from individuals and organizations most significantly affected by the migration policies of the United States and other countries of transit or destination.
PHOTO CAPTION: A migrant girl looks at asylum seekers entering the United States at the San Ysidro crossing port in Tijuana, Baja California State, Mexico, on May 10, 2021. Photo Credit: GUILLERMO ARIAS/AFP via Getty Images.