Homeless deportees in Tijuana turn to urban farming

TIJUANA, Mexico — Along the Tijuana River — more of a drainage canal than a scenic river walk — there is a stark view of problems caused by a flood of more than 150,000 immigrants deported from the U.S. in the last two years.

Makeshift homeless camps, known as ñongos, dot the concrete riverbanks in the infamous El Bordo section of the city along the U.S.-Mexico border. Blankets hang from dam shafts, not fully masking the people huddled behind them. And all of it is within walking distance of the nicely landscaped City Hall and government complex.

The majority of the homeless living along the river in El Bordo (“the ditch”) are deportees, kicked out of the U.S. and thrown into limbo in a place where they have no friends, family, jobs or homes.

But a few hundred feet from these dismal camps, a glimmer of hope and urban revival is unfolding. Thirty wooden planters overflowing with freshly planted beets, kale, lettuce, tomato, arugula, onion and other vegetables line a small stretch of the concrete channel.

The urban farmers who grow the crops are all Mexicans who were deported from the U.S. through the busiest border crossing in the world. Many lived in the U.S. illegally for years but were forced out of the country for a variety of infractions, often minor.

More than 135 million people cross the U.S.-Mexico border here every year. In 2014, 60,000 of them were deported from the U.S., and almost 100,000 were returned the year before.

“Our responsibility is to offer them a place to live, and the next step is a place to work,” said Carlos Mora, the executive president of Consejo Estatal de Atención al Migrante, Baja California’s board of immigration.

But that’s easier said than done. In April, Mora’s agency set aside 2,000 jobs in call centers for deportees who are bilingual. It has placed 500 since.

“But when they receive their first check, their first week’s pay, they receive less than $100 for a full week of work,” he said. “They say, ‘I make in the U.S. $400 or $500 a week.”

The disappointment is crushing.

“When they are deported, most have money in their pockets and cellphones,” Mora said. “What happens is that when they realize two or three weeks or three or four months later that they don’t have any relatives here. It’s a dramatic reality.” Most have a spouse and kids in the U.S., he said.

With the help of government funding, the Padre Chava breakfast hall serves more than 1,000 meals a day to homeless deportees. After federal and local authorities raided El Bordo and destroyed many of the makeshift shelters along the canal in the name of public safety, homeless deportees sought refuge in tent cities set up by community organizers.

“It’s a terrible situation,” said Mora, whose office was created in December by Baja California’s new Gov. Francisco Vega. The office provides plane tickets to deportees who want to return to their homes in other parts of Mexico.

But for many who have lived in the U.S. for years, returning home means going back to the U.S., not to a village they haven’t lived in for 20 years. “That’s the reason they decide to stay in Tijuana,” Mora said. “They’re trying to cross back.”

But they quickly realize that border crossings have become much tougher than when they first succeeded years ago. And many end up destitute living in El Bordo.

Although the Bordofarms program doesn’t have government sanction, Mora is supportive. The government could shut down the whole venture.

“They can do it, but they don’t do it yet,” said Mora, who points out that the federal government is over 1,800 miles away in Mexico City. He told Marshall to not worry and keep Bordofarms going.

“They’re saving lives, and they’re giving them a purpose in life and making them start to feel like human beings,” he said. “What Bordofarms does is give some hope to somebody who doesn’t have any kind of hope.”

He said that state and city agencies, community organizations and churches are doing their share. They have set an April 30 deadline to devise a master plan to house the more than 2,000 homeless deportees in Tijuana.