For some time now, the advance guard of the caravan has been sheltered in the Tijuana sports complex, where officials have been providing them with food and basic medical attention as best they can. That came to an end this weekend. While officials in Tijuana had said that they didn’t plan to forcibly move anyone, they are now shipping the migrants to a concert venue ten miles further from the border. Apparently, the conditions inside the stadium had become too grim to bear. (Washington Times)

The city government of Tijuana announced Saturday that it has closed down a migrant shelter at a sports complex close to the U.S. border that once held about 6,000 Central Americans who hope to get into the U.S.

Officials said all the migrants were being moved to a former concert venue much farther from the border. The city said in a statement the sports complex shelter was closed because of “bad sanitary conditions.”

Experts had expressed concerns about unsanitary conditions that had developed at the partly flooded sports complex, where the migrants had been packed into a space adequate for half their numbers. Mud, lice infestations and respiratory infections were rampant.

The conditions inside that stadium definitely sound grim. It doesn’t help that the venue had partially flooded during the recent rainstorms. But the temporary residents were also apparently ripe with parasites and communicable diseases. That’s not the first time we’ve heard that complaint, however. Even with some of the migrants who have already been allowed into the United States for amnesty hearings, American officials have noted the large numbers who carry infectious diseases. And Tijuana municipal government spokesmen have broadcast the same warning. (Fox)

Tijuana’s Health Department is warning that migrants who came with the caravan are suffering from respiratory infections, tuberculosis, chickenpox and other serious health issues.

The spokesman told Fox News that out of 6,000 migrants currently residing in the city, over a third of them (2,267) are being treated for health-related issues.

There are three confirmed cases of tuberculosis, four cases of HIV/AIDS and four separate cases of chickenpox, the spokesman said.

We really should take a moment to give the Mexican government credit here. The new administration under AMLO (the incoming president) seems to be gearing up to keep their promises. Rather than turning a blind eye or even helping migrants to illegally cross the border, they’ve been holding the line and arresting the ones they find breaking the law. When it came time to move the migrant encampment, they moved them further away from the border rather than closer to it. And during one of his most recent speeches, AMLO announced that he was signing an agreement with the leaders of Honduras and Guatemala to help create jobs and increase security in those nations to remove the fundamental drivers of mass migration and these caravans.

None of this sovles our immediate problems at the border, but it’s a hopeful sign for the years to come. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.