Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Anti-migrant protesters clashed with a pro-migrant demonstrator in the Mexican city of Tijuana

Hundreds of residents have taken to the streets of a Mexican border town, in protest at the arrival of thousands of migrants trying to get to the US.

They were urging the migrants to leave Tijuana, to the south of California.

The migrants are part of a large caravan of Central Americans who have been travelling though Mexico to the US, where they want to claim asylum.

In response to their arrival, the US and Mexico installed heavier security at the border crossing.

Tijuana Mayor Juan Manuel Gastelum said on Friday he expected the number of migrants arriving in the city in the coming weeks to reach 10,000, warning the city was not prepared to handle the "avalanche".

The city's shelters are already struggling to cope, and authorities have asked for government assistance.

Mr Gastelum's words were seized on by US President Donald Trump on Sunday.

"The Mayor of Tijuana, Mexico, just stated that 'the City is ill-prepared to handle this many migrants, the backlog could last 6 months,'" he tweeted.

"Likewise, the U.S. is ill-prepared for this invasion, and will not stand for it. They are causing crime and big problems in Mexico. Go home!"

The anti-migrant feeling could also be seen on the streets of Tijuana.

Image copyright Reuters

"They are invaders! They are armed! Get out of the country," protesters shouted, according to Reuters news agency.

Esther Monroy, 58, told AFP news agency she feared the numbers of migrants gathering in the city would lead to the US closing the border crossing,

"Most of us in this depend on business from people coming and going across the border," she said.

"If they close it, it will be [the migrants'] fault."

"If the government can't control all this, organised crime and drug cartels will," America Villa added. "We don't care who does it, but they have to take responsibility for these people."

However, not everyone was protesting against the migrants. A smaller demonstration was also held in support of the new arrivals, who say they are fleeing persecution, poverty and violence in their home countries of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.

And there was even understanding from the migrants themselves.

"They have the right to protest because they don't like that we're here but in spite of everything, they [Mexicans] are good people," Karina Rosales, a migrant from Honduras, told Reuters.

"They are the same as us. But we're only passing through. We won't stay here."</s>Hundreds of Tijuana residents congregated around a monument in an affluent section of the city south of California on Sunday to protest the thousands of Central American migrants who have arrived via caravan in hopes of a new life in the United States.

Tensions have built as nearly 3,000 migrants from the caravan poured into Tijuana in recent days after more than a month on the road, and with many more months ahead of them while they seek asylum. The federal government estimates the number of migrants could soon swell to 10,000.

US border inspectors are processing only about 100 asylum claims a day at Tijuana's main crossing to San Diego. Asylum seekers register their names in a tattered notebook managed by migrants themselves that had more than 3,000 names even before the caravan arrived.

On Sunday, displeased Tijuana residents waved Mexican flags, sang the Mexican national anthem, and chanted "Out! Out!" in front of a statue of the Aztec ruler Cuauhtemoc, 1 mile from the US border. They accused the migrants of being messy, ungrateful, and a danger to Tijuana. They also complained about how the caravan forced its way into Mexico, calling it an "invasion." And they voiced worries that their taxes might be spent to care for the group.

"We don't want them in Tijuana," protesters shouted.

Juana Rodriguez, a housewife, said the government needs to conduct background checks on the migrants to make sure they don't have criminal records.

A woman who gave her name as Paloma lambasted the migrants, who she said came to Mexico in search of handouts. "Let their government take care of them," she told video reporters covering the protest.

A block away, fewer than a dozen Tijuana residents stood with signs of support for the migrants. Keyla Zamarrón, a teacher, said the protesters don't represent her way of thinking as she held a sign saying: Childhood has no borders.

Most of the migrants who have reached Tijuana via caravan in recent days set out more than a month ago from Honduras, a country of 9 million people. Dozens of migrants in the caravan who have been interviewed by Associated Press reporters have said they left their country after death threats.

But the journey has been hard, and many have turned around.

Alden Rivera, the Honduran ambassador in Mexico, told the AP on Saturday that 1,800 Hondurans have returned to their country since the caravan first set out on Oct. 13, and that he hopes more will make that decision. "We want them to return to Honduras," said Mr. Rivera.

Honduras has a murder rate of 43 per 100,000 residents, similar to US cities like New Orleans and Detroit. In addition to violence, migrants in the caravan have mentioned poor economic prospects as a motivator for their departures. Per capita income hovers around $120 a month in Honduras, where the World Bank says 2 out of 3 people live in poverty.

The migrants' expected long stay in Tijuana has raised concerns about the ability of the border city of more than 1.6 million people to handle the influx.

While many in Tijuana are sympathetic to the migrants' plight and trying to assist, some locals have shouted insults, hurled rocks, and even thrown punches at them. The cold reception contrasts sharply with the warmth that accompanied the migrants in southern Mexico, where residents of small towns greeted them with hot food, campsites, and even live music.

Tijuana Mayor Juan Manuel Gastelum has called the migrants' arrival an "avalanche" that the city is ill-prepared to handle, calculating that they will be in Tijuana for at least six months as they wait to file asylum claims. Mr. Gastelum has appealed to the federal government for more assistance to cope with the influx.

Mexico's Interior Ministry said Saturday that the federal government was flying in food and blankets for the migrants in Tijuana.

Tijuana officials converted a municipal gymnasium and recreational complex into a shelter to keep migrants out of public spaces. The city's privately run shelters have a maximum capacity of 700. The municipal complex can hold up to 3,000.

At the municipal shelter, Josue Caseres expressed dismay at the protests against the caravan. "We are fleeing violence," said the entertainer from Santa Barbara, Honduras. "How can they think we are going to come here to be violent?"

Some from the caravan have diverted to other border cities, such as Mexicali, a few hours to the east of Tijuana.

Elsewhere on Sunday, a group of 200 migrants headed north from El Salvador, determined to also find safety in numbers to reach the US. Edwin Alexander Gomez told AP in San Salvador that he wants to work construction in New York, where he hears the wages are better and the city is safer.

US President Trump, who sought to make the caravan a campaign issue in the midterm elections, used Twitter on Sunday to voice support for the mayor of Tijuana and try to discourage the migrants from seeking entry to the US.

Trump wrote that like Tijuana, "the U.S. is ill-prepared for this invasion, and will not stand for it. They are causing crime and big problems in Mexico. Go home!"

He followed that tweet by writing: "Catch and Release is an obsolete term. It is now Catch and Detain. Illegal Immigrants trying to come into the U.S.A., often proudly flying the flag of their nation as they ask for U.S. Asylum, will be detained or turned away."

This story was reported by The Associated Press. Amy Guthrie reported from Mexico City. AP writer Julie Watson contributed to this story from Tijuana and Marcos Aleman contributed from San Salvador.</s>TIJUANA, Mexico — He ran a produce stand back in Honduras, but Richard Umanzor said he’s willing to take any work available – in whatever country will grant him entry.

He and more than 2,000 other migrants who have arrived in this border city in the last few days can see California with their own eyes. But they are starting to realize they may never get there.

“We all came here looking to go to the United States, but now we can see how complicated that is,” Umanzor, 26, said Friday at a sports complex-turned-migrant camp a block from the steel border fence. “If we can’t go to the United States, why not Canada? Europe? Wherever we can find dignified work.”

Thousands more migrants – members of caravans that began leaving Honduras weeks ago – are expected to pour into Tijuana in coming days and weeks, with no place to go.

The city of 1.6 million was caught off guard by the sudden influx, raising concerns from officials and residents about how they will accommodate the newcomers. The handful of shelters here normally house no more than 100 people each.

In an interview with the Milenio news outlet, Tijuana Mayor Juan Manuel Gastelum said the migrants arriving included a significant criminal element and represented a major burden to the city.

“We don’t want them bothering (our) citizens,” said Gastelum, who added that he was considering holding a referendum to help decide the future of the migrants. “Tijuana is a city of migrants, but not in this way.”

The migrants could be stuck here for months, said Genaro Lopez Moreno, a municipal delegate for downtown Tijuana who was helping coordinate aid.

“No city in the world can handle the arrival of so many people at once without help,” he said. “We are trying our best, but this is a lot to handle all at once.”

Tijuana officials were seeking aid from the central government in Mexico City.

The migrants are hungry and fatigued after traveling roughly 3,000 miles. Now that they are so close to the U.S. border, they are trying to figure out their next move.

As of Friday, there was no concerted effort to file applications for political asylum in the United States. The Trump administration has warned that applicants will probably face long waits in detention and little chance of gaining legal residence.

The sense of exhilaration at having finally reached the border appears to be quickly fading for a group that managed to enter Mexico illegally with relative ease a few weeks ago, getting rides on makeshift rafts across the river from Guatemala.

The U.S. border is far more imposing. Border Patrol agents in vehicles, on horseback and on foot peer southward through binoculars. Layers of fencing wind up and down the hills east and west of the official crossings. Coils of razor wire line the fence tops.

“A lot of them thought this was going to be something like the border between Mexico and Guatemala,” Lopez Moreno said. “Now they are realizing it’s something quite different.”

Caravan organizers held a kind of pep rally Friday at the sports facility, urging migrants to keep up their spirits.

“Don’t get frustrated!” Irineo Mujica of the migrant advocacy group Pueblo Sin Fronteras urged an assembly held on a soccer field. “We need to think beyond the United States.”

The migrants cheered as he asked them whether they would consider relocating to Canada, Germany, France or elsewhere in Europe – or even remaining in Tijuana and working in its many assembly plants. There was fanciful talk of possible visas and work permits.

“There are many possibilities,” said Mujica, though he conceded in an interview outside the camp that no visas anywhere were guaranteed at this point.

Later, several evangelical pastors asked the migrants to join in prayer for a successful finale to their voyage.

For weeks, as the migrants progressed through sweltering tropics, rugged mountains and endless expanses of desert, their destination was always clear.

Many Mexican families in Tijuana have donated food and expressed solidarity with the migrants.

But not everybody is the city has been so welcoming.

In the upscale Playas de Tijuana neighborhood, residents objected to migrants congregating along the beach, resulting in scuffles and police intervention.

Many wound up at the sports center, where more than 2,000 migrants spent Thursday night. But no one in the group seems to know what the next move will be.

“We are here now, and we still want to go to the United States,” said Rosa Perez, a 30-year-old single mother who made the trip with her four children. “But how we will cross, I don’t know.”

She was cheered by smiles from her 5-month-old son, Esteven, who had been hospitalized with pneumonia in the Mexican city of Guadalajara. While Esteven sat in his stroller, her other children played on swings.

Perez said she would not be a burden in the United States or wherever she ended up. Like others, she said that returning to impoverished and crime-ridden Honduras was not an option.

On a basketball court where scores of migrants were sleeping on mats, three young friends filled out generic job applications purchased at a stationery shop. That they didn’t have work papers for Mexico didn’t seem to deter them.

Israel Ramirez, 24, said he was a farmer back home but was ready to work in restaurants, factories or wherever he could earn a living.

“If we can’t get into the United States, maybe we can find work here in Mexico,” he said. “That’s still better than going back to Honduras.”</s>Tijuana protesters chant 'Out!' at migrants camped in city

TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — Hundreds of Tijuana residents congregated around a monument in an affluent section of the city south of California on Sunday to protest the thousands of Central American migrants who have arrived via caravan in hopes of a new life in the U.S.

Tensions have built as nearly 3,000 migrants from the caravan poured into Tijuana in recent days after more than a month on the road, and with many more months ahead of them while they seek asylum. The federal government estimates the number of migrants could soon swell to 10,000.

U.S. border inspectors are processing only about 100 asylum claims a day at Tijuana's main crossing to San Diego. Asylum seekers register their names in a tattered notebook managed by migrants themselves that had more than 3,000 names even before the caravan arrived.

On Sunday, displeased Tijuana residents waved Mexican flags, sang the Mexican national anthem and chanted "Out! Out!" in front of a statue of the Aztec ruler Cuauhtemoc, 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) from the U.S. border. They accused the migrants of being messy, ungrateful and a danger to Tijuana. They also complained about how the caravan forced its way into Mexico, calling it an "invasion." And they voiced worries that their taxes might be spent to care for the group.

"We don't want them in Tijuana," protesters shouted.

A woman who gave her name as Paloma lambasted the migrants, who she said came to Mexico in search of handouts. "Let their government take care of them," she told video reporters covering the protest.

Most of the migrants who have reached Tijuana via caravan in recent days set out more than a month ago from Honduras, a country of 9 million people. Dozens of migrants in the caravan who have been interviewed by Associated Press reporters have said they left their country after death threats.

But the journey has been hard, and many have turned around.

Alden Rivera, the Honduran ambassador in Mexico, told the AP on Saturday that 1,800 Hondurans have returned to their country since the caravan first set out on Oct. 13, and that he hopes more will make that decision. "We want them to return to Honduras," said Rivera.

Honduras has a murder rate of 43 per 100,000 residents, similar to U.S. cities like New Orleans and Detroit. In addition to violence, migrants in the caravan have mentioned poor economic prospects as a motivator for their departures. Per capita income hovers around $120 a month in Honduras, where the World Bank says two out of three people live in poverty.

The migrants' expected long stay in Tijuana has raised concerns about the ability of the border city of more than 1.6 million people to handle the influx.

While many in Tijuana are sympathetic to the migrants' plight and trying to assist, some locals have shouted insults, hurled rocks and even thrown punches at them. The cold reception contrasts sharply with the warmth that accompanied the migrants in southern Mexico, where residents of small towns greeted them with hot food, campsites and even live music.

Tijuana Mayor Juan Manuel Gastelum has called the migrants' arrival an "avalanche" that the city is ill-prepared to handle, calculating that they will be in Tijuana for at least six months as they wait to file asylum claims. Gastelum has appealed to the federal government for more assistance to cope with the influx.

Mexico's Interior Ministry said Saturday that the federal government was flying in food and blankets for the migrants in Tijuana.

Tijuana officials converted a municipal gymnasium and recreational complex into a shelter to keep migrants out of public spaces. The city's privately run shelters have a maximum capacity of 700. The municipal complex can hold up to 3,000.

Some from the caravan have diverted to other border cities, such as Mexicali, a few hours to the east of Tijuana.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who sought to make the caravan a campaign issue in the midterm elections, used Twitter on Sunday to voice support for the mayor of Tijuana and try to discourage the migrants from seeking entry to the U.S.

Trump wrote that like Tijuana, "the U.S. is ill-prepared for this invasion, and will not stand for it. They are causing crime and big problems in Mexico. Go home!"

He followed that tweet by writing: "Catch and Release is an obsolete term. It is now Catch and Detain. Illegal Immigrants trying to come into the U.S.A., often proudly flying the flag of their nation as they ask for U.S. Asylum, will be detained or turned away."

Associated Press writer Julie Watson contributed to this story from Tijuana.</s>TIJUANA, Mexico — Hundreds of Tijuana residents have congregated around a monument in an affluent section of the city south of California to protest the thousands of Central American migrants who have arrived there via caravan in hopes of a new life in the U.S.

The locals waved Mexican flags, sang the Mexican national anthem and chanted "Out! Out!" on Sunday in front of a statue of the Aztec ruler Cuauhtemoc, 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) from the U.S. border.

They accused the migrants of being messy, ungrateful and a danger to Tijuana. They also complained about how the caravan forced its way into Mexico, calling it an "invasion." And they voiced worries that their taxes might be spent to care for the group as they wait possibly months to apply for U.S. asylum.</s>Hundreds of Tijuana residents congregated around a monument in an affluent section of the city south of California on Sunday to protest the thousands of Central American migrants who have arrived via caravan in hopes of a new life in the U.S.

Tensions have built as nearly 3,000 migrants from the caravan poured into Tijuana in recent days after more than a month on the road, and with many more months ahead of them while they seek asylum. The federal government estimates the number of migrants could soon swell to 10,000.

U.S. border inspectors are processing only about 100 asylum claims a day at Tijuana's main crossing to San Diego. Asylum seekers register their names in a tattered notebook managed by migrants themselves that had more than 3,000 names even before the caravan arrived.

On Sunday, displeased Tijuana residents waved Mexican flags, sang the Mexican national anthem and chanted "Out! Out!" in front of a statue of the Aztec ruler Cuauhtemoc, 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) from the U.S. border. They accused the migrants of being messy, ungrateful and a danger to Tijuana. They also complained about how the caravan forced its way into Mexico, calling it an "invasion." And they voiced worries that their taxes might be spent to care for the group.

"We don't want them in Tijuana," protesters shouted</s>TIJUANA, Mexico -- About 2,000 Central American migrants had already reached the Mexican border city of Tijuana and another 1,200 from a second caravan set out from Mexico City toward the border Friday.

With shelters already full, authorities in Tijuana opened a gymnasium and gated sport complex for up to 1,000 migrants, with a potential to expand to 3,000.

But at least that many migrants were still on the road or trickling into the city aboard buses, and a third caravan was still waiting in Mexico City. Tijuana faced a potential influx of as many as 10,000 in all. The city's privately run shelters are meant to have a capacity of 700.

With U.S. border inspectors processing only about 100 asylum claims a day at the main border crossing with San Diego, prospects grew that migrants would be stuck waiting in Tijuana for months. Concerns continued about what the Central Americans will do, or how they will support themselves in the meantime.

On Thursday, migrants napped on mattresses at the gymnasium in Tijuana while men played soccer and exchanged banter on a crowded, adjoining courtyard. A woman dabbed her crying, naked toddler with a moist cloth.

Francisco Rueda, the top deputy to Baja California state Gov. Francisco Vega de la Madrid, said "This is not a crisis," but agreed that "this is an extraordinary situation."

Rueda said the state has 7,000 jobs available for its "Central American migrant brothers" who obtain legal resident status in Mexico.

"Today in Baja California there is an employment opportunity for those who request it, but in order for this to happen, it has to regulate migrant status," he said.

The thriving factories in the city of 1.6 million are always looking for workers, and several thousand Haitian migrants who were turned away at the U.S. border have found jobs and settled in Tijuana the past two years.

Police made their presence known in a city that is suffering an all-time-high homicide rate. A group of about 50 migrants, mostly women and children, walked through downtown streets Thursday from the city shelter to a breakfast hall under police escort.

As buses from western and central Mexico trickled in, some families camped inside the bus terminal and waited for word on where they could find a safe place to sleep.

Oscar Zapata, 31, reached the Tijuana bus station at 2 a.m. Thursday from Guadalajara with his wife and their three children, ages 4, 5 and 12, and headed to the breakfast hall, where migrants were served free beef and potatoes.

Back home in La Ceiba, Honduras, he sold pirated CDs and DVDs in the street and two gangs demanding "protection" money threatened to kidnap his daughter and force her into prostitution if he didn't pay. When he heard about the caravan on the TV news last month, he didn't think twice.

"It was the opportunity to get out," Zapata said.

Zapata said he hopes to join a brother in Los Angeles but has not yet decided on his next move. Like many others, he plans to wait in Tijuana for others in the caravan to arrive and gather more information before seeking asylum in the United States.

Byron Jose Blandino, a 27-year-old bricklayer from Nicaragua who slept in the converted gymnasium, said he wanted to request asylum but not until he could speak with someone well-versed in U.S. law and asylum procedures.

"The first thing is to wait," Blandino said. "I do not want to break the laws of any country. If I could enter in a peaceful manner, that would be good."

To claim asylum in San Diego, migrants enter their names in a tattered notebook held together by duct tape and managed by the migrants in a plaza outside the entry to the main border crossing. On Thursday, migrants who registered six weeks ago were getting their names called. The waiting list has grown to more than 3,000 names and stands to become much longer with the new arrivals.

Rueda, the governor's deputy, said that if all migrants from the caravan currently in Tijuana were to register to seek asylum in the United States, they would likely have to wait four months at current processing rates. For that reason, the state has asked Mexican federal authorities to encourage people in other caravans to go to other border cities.

The caravan has fragmented somewhat in recent days in a final push to the border, with some migrants moving rapidly in buses and others falling behind.

On Thursday, hundreds were stranded for most of the day at a gas station in Navojoa, some 750 miles from Tijuana.

"We were dropped here at midnight ... in the middle of nowhere, where supposedly some buses were going to come pick us up, but nothing," Alejandra Grisel Rodriguez of Honduras said. "We are without water, without food."

After about 12 hours, seven buses began arriving to collect the migrants, Rodriguez said, but they quickly filled up.

"We would need at least 40 or 50," she said.

Information for this article was contributed by Maria Verza of The Associated Press.</s>Hundreds of Tijuana residents congregated around a monument in an affluent section of the city south of California on Sunday to protest the thousands of Central American migrants who have arrived via caravan in hopes of a new life in the U.S.

Tensions have built as nearly 3,000 migrants from the caravan poured into Tijuana in recent days after more than a month on the road, and with many more months ahead of them while they seek asylum. The federal government estimates the number of migrants could soon swell to 10,000.

U.S. border inspectors are processing only about 100 asylum claims a day at Tijuana’s main crossing to San Diego. Asylum seekers register their names in a tattered notebook managed by migrants themselves that had more than 3,000 names even before the caravan arrived.

On Sunday, displeased Tijuana residents waved Mexican flags, sang the Mexican national anthem and chanted “Out! Out!” in front of a statue of the Aztec ruler Cuauhtemoc, 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) from the U.S. border. They accused the migrants of being messy, ungrateful and a danger to Tijuana. They also complained about how the caravan forced its way into Mexico, calling it an “invasion.” And they voiced worries that their taxes might be spent to care for the group.

“We don’t want them in Tijuana,” protesters shouted.

Juana Rodriguez, a housewife, said the government needs to conduct background checks on the migrants to make sure they don’t have criminal records.

A woman who gave her name as Paloma lambasted the migrants, who she said came to Mexico in search of handouts. “Let their government take care of them,” she told video reporters covering the protest.

A block away, fewer than a dozen Tijuana residents stood with signs of support for the migrants. Keyla Zamarron, a 38-year-old teacher, said the protesters don’t represent her way of thinking as she held a sign saying: Childhood has no borders.

Most of the migrants who have reached Tijuana via caravan in recent days set out more than a month ago from Honduras, a country of 9 million people. Dozens of migrants in the caravan who have been interviewed by Associated Press reporters have said they left their country after death threats.

But the journey has been hard, and many have turned around.

More from the AP</s>Hundreds of residents of the Mexican city of Tijuana congregated around a monument in an affluent section of the city south of California to protest against the thousands of Central American migrants who have arrived via caravan in hopes of a new life in the US.

Tensions have built as nearly 3,000 migrants from the caravan poured into Tijuana in recent days after more than a month on the road, and with many more months ahead of them while they seek asylum.

The Mexican federal government estimates the number of migrants could soon swell to 10,000.

US border inspectors are processing only about 100 asylum claims a day at Tijuana’s main crossing to San Diego.

Asylum seekers register their names in a tattered notebook managed by migrants themselves that had more than 3,000 names even before the caravan arrived.

On Sunday, displeased Tijuana residents waved Mexican flags, sang the Mexican national anthem and chanted “Out! Out!” in front of a statue of the Aztec ruler Cuauhtemoc, one mile from the US border.

They accused the migrants of being messy, ungrateful and a danger to Tijuana.

They also complained about how the caravan forced its way into Mexico, calling it an “invasion”.

And they voiced worries that their taxes might be spent to care for the group.

“We don’t want them in Tijuana,” protesters shouted.

A woman who gave her name as Paloma lambasted the migrants, who she said came to Mexico in search of handouts.

“Let their government take care of them,” she told video reporters covering the protest.

Most of the migrants who have reached Tijuana via caravan in recent days set out more than a month ago from Honduras, a country of nine million people.

The journey has been hard, and many have turned around.

Alden Rivera, the Honduran ambassador in Mexico, told the AP on Saturday that 1,800 Hondurans have returned to their country since the caravan first set out on October 13, and that he hopes more will make that decision.

“We want them to return to Honduras,” said Mr Rivera.

Honduras has a murder rate of 43 per 100,000 residents, similar to US cities like New Orleans and Detroit.

Tijuana mayor Juan Manuel Gastelum has called the migrants’ arrival an “avalanche” that the city is ill-prepared to handle, calculating that they will be in Tijuana for at least six months as they wait to file asylum claims.

Mr Gastelum has appealed to the federal government for more assistance to cope with the influx.

Mexico’s Interior Ministry said the federal government was flying in food and blankets for the migrants in Tijuana.

Tijuana officials converted a municipal gymnasium and recreational complex into a shelter to keep migrants out of public spaces.

The city’s privately run shelters have a maximum capacity of 700.

The municipal complex can hold up to 3,000.

Some from the caravan have diverted to other border cities, such as Mexicali, a few hours to the east of Tijuana.

US President Donald Trump, who sought to make the caravan a campaign issue in the midterm elections, used Twitter to voice support for the mayor of Tijuana and try to discourage the migrants from seeking entry to the US.

Mr Trump wrote that like Tijuana, “the US is ill-prepared for this invasion, and will not stand for it. They are causing crime and big problems in Mexico. Go home!”

He followed that tweet by writing: “Catch and Release is an obsolete term.

“It is now Catch and Detain. Illegal Immigrants trying to come into the USA, often proudly flying the flag of their nation as they ask for US Asylum, will be detained or turned away.”</s>Many of the nearly 3,000 Central American migrants who have reached the Mexican border with California via caravan said Saturday they do not feel welcome in the city of Tijuana, where hundreds more migrants are headed after more than a month on the road.

Honduran migrant Mauro Hernandez rests inside a makeshift tent at a temporary shelter in Tijuana, Mexico, early Saturday morning, Nov. 17, 2018. Many of the nearly 3,000 migrants have reached the border with California. The mayor has called the migrants’ arrival an “avalanche” that the city is ill-prepared to handle. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Many of the nearly 3,000 Central American migrants who have reached the Mexican border with California via caravan said Saturday they do not feel welcome in the city of Tijuana, where hundreds more migrants are headed after more than a month on the road.

TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — Many of the nearly 3,000 Central American migrants who have reached the Mexican border with California via caravan said Saturday they do not feel welcome in the city of Tijuana, where hundreds more migrants are headed after more than a month on the road.

The vast majority were camped at an outdoor sports complex, sleeping on a dirt baseball field and under bleachers with a view of the steel walls topped by barbed wire at the newly reinforced U.S.-Mexico border. The city opened the complex after other shelters were filled to capacity. Church groups provided portable showers, bathrooms and sinks. The federal government estimates the migrant crowd in Tijuana could soon swell to 10,000.

Tijuana Mayor Juan Manuel Gastelum has called the migrants’ arrival an “avalanche” that the city is ill-prepared to handle, calculating that they will be in Tijuana for at least six months as they wait to file asylum claims. U.S. border inspectors are processing only about 100 asylum claims a day at Tijuana’s main crossing to San Diego. Asylum seekers register their names in a tattered notebook managed by migrants themselves that had more than 3,000 names even before the caravan arrived.

While many in Tijuana are sympathetic to the migrants’ plight and trying to assist, some locals have shouted insults, hurled rocks and even thrown punches at the migrants.

It’s a stark contrast to the many Mexican communities that welcomed the caravan with signs, music and donations of clothing after it entered Mexico nearly a month ago. Countless residents of rural areas pressed fruit and bags of water into the migrants’ hands as they passed through southern Mexico, wishing them safe journeys.

Alden Rivera, the Honduran ambassador in Mexico, visited the outdoor sports complex Saturday. Rivera expects the migrants will need to be sheltered for eight months or more, and said he is working with Mexico to get more funds to feed and care for them. He expects the migrant numbers in Tijuana to reach 3,400 over the weekend, with another 1,200 migrants having made it to Mexicali, another border city a few hours to the east of Tijuana. An additional 1,500 migrants plan to reach the U.S. border region next week.

Rivera said 1,800 Hondurans have returned to their country since the caravan first set out on Oct. 13, and that he hopes more will make that decision.

“We want them to return to Honduras,” Rivera said, adding that each migrant must weigh whether to go home, appeal for asylum in Mexico or wait in line to apply for asylum in the U.S.

The Mexican Interior Ministry said Friday that 2,697 Central American migrants have requested asylum in Mexico under a program that the country launched on Oct. 26 to more quickly get them credentials needed to live, work and study in southern Mexico.

Ivis Muñoz, 26, has considered returning to Honduras. The coffee farmer called his father in Atima, Honduras, on Saturday to consult on his next move a few days after being attacked on a beach by locals in Tijuana. His father told him to stick it out.

Munoz has a bullet in his leg. A gang member shot him a year ago in Honduras and threatened to kill him if he sees him again. Munoz said he found out later his girlfriend had been cheating on him with the gang member.

He’s afraid to go home, but he feels unwelcome in Tijuana.

Munoz was asleep on a beach in Tijuana with about two dozen other migrants when rocks came raining down on them around 2 a.m. Wednesday. He heard a man shout in the darkness: “We don’t want you here! Go back to your country!” Munoz and the others got up and ran for cover, heading toward the residential streets nearby. As the sun rose, they hitched a ride on a passing truck to Tijuana’s downtown. Now he is staying at the sports complex.

“I don’t know what to do,” said Munoz. He fears the U.S. won’t grant him asylum, and that he’ll get deported if he tries to cross into the country without authorization.

Carlos Padilla, 57, a migrant from Progreso, Honduras, said a Tijuana resident shouted “migrants are pigs” as he passed on the street recently. He did not respond. “We didn’t come here to cause problems, we came here with love and with the intention to ask for asylum,” Padilla said. “But they treat us like animals here.”

Padilla said he will likely return to Honduras if the U.S. rejects his asylum request.

The migrants’ expected long stay in Tijuana has raised concerns about the ability of the border city of more than 1.6 million to handle the influx.

Tijuana officials said they converted the municipal gymnasium and recreational complex into a shelter to keep migrants out of public spaces. The city’s privately run shelters have a maximum capacity of 700. The municipal complex can hold up to 3,000; as of Friday night there were 2,397 migrants there.

Some business owners near the shelter complained on Saturday of migrants panhandling and stealing.

Francisco Lopez, 50, owns a furniture store nearby. He said a group of migrants took food from a small grocery a few doors down, and he worries that crime in the area will rise the longer the migrants stay at the shelter.

“These poor people have left their country and they’re in an unfamiliar place,” said Maria de Jesus Izarraga, 68, who lives two blocks from complex.

As Izarraga spoke from her home’s front door, a man interrupted to ask for money to buy a plate of beans. He said he came with the caravan and had blisters on his feet. She gave him some pesos, and continued speaking: “I hope this all works out in the best possible way.”

Outside the complex, lines of migrants snaked along the street to receive donations of clothes and coolers full of bottled water being dropped off by charity groups and others looking to help the migrants.

Felipe Garza, 55, acknowledged that many in his hometown don’t want to help as he and other volunteers from his church handed migrants coffee and rolls at the impromptu municipal shelter. “It’s uncomfortable to receive such a big multitude of people, but it’s a reality that we have to deal with,” he said.

Garza surmised that if the Central Americans behave, Tijuana will embrace them just as it did thousands of Haitians in 2016. Those Haitians have since opened restaurants, hair salons and enrolled in local universities.

Police officer Victor Coronel agrees but wonders how much more the city can take. “The only thing we can do is hope that President (Donald) Trump opens his heart a little,” said Coronel.

Trump, who sought to make the caravan a campaign issue in last week’s elections, took to Twitter on Friday to aim new criticism at the migrants.

“Isn’t it ironic that large Caravans of people are marching to our border wanting U.S.A. asylum because they are fearful of being in their country — yet they are proudly waving … their country’s flag. Can this be possible? Yes, because it is all a BIG CON, and the American taxpayer is paying for it,” Trump said in a pair of tweets.

Associated Press writer Amy Guthrie in Mexico City contributed to this story.

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Hundreds of residents take to the streets in the Mexican city Tijuana, in protest of the arrival of thousands of migrants trying to get to the United States.