‘I’m trapped here’: Haitian asylum seekers languish in Mexico

Unable to get US asylum and facing discrimination in Mexico, Haitians say they have nowhere to go and are losing hope.

Tijuana, Mexico – Each morning, Samuel* leaves the cramped, single-room apartment he shares with a dozen other Haitian asylum seekers in central Tijuana and wanders over to the makeshift migrant camp that he used to call home. Until last month, he had lived peacefully at El Chaparral, a sprawling migrant tent city near the US-Mexico border wall, alongside Haitians and asylum seekers from other countries, all waiting to try to get into the United States. But Samuel says the atmosphere gradually shifted to one of hostility.