“We do not have the necessary and sufficient infrastructure to fully attend to these people to give them a decent space… I will not spend Tijuanans’ money, I will not bring Tijuana into debt now, in the same way, we haven’t done so these past two years.”

Gastelum, who is at political odds with the greater Mexican government as well as with his own electorate — having fallen to approval ratings in the single digits, per RT — finds himself on the popular side of the debate with regards to the migrant issue. Some locals appear to support his anti-migrant positioning, with a small protest taking place this past Sunday, November 18, which saw dozens of Tijuanan residents take to the streets chanting “Long Live Mexico,” and “Tijuana First!”