The “Its a boy” sign, along with the white-frosted cake and the presents and the colored balloons all hinted at the same thing — a baby shower.
And, soon enough last Monday, Christian pastors were surrounding a newborn, a boy wrapped in a blanket and his mothers embrace, and placing their hands on both parents shoulders.
Then, together, in a Tijuana church, they all prayed for one of the youngest members of the Central American caravan.
Baby Alvin was born Nov. 13 in Mexico City. His Honduran parents were on the move at the time, part of the group of migrants trying to get to the U.S./Mexico border, but Alvins arrival prompted the pit stop.
Erly Marsial a refugee from Honduras, with 7-week-old Alvin, is surprised by a baby shower in Tijuana on Monday, December 3, 2018. Monica Curca with Activate Labs, a non-profit based in Orange County, said of immigrants seeking asylum, ” So much is lost in the journey. We dont know what the future holds but we know how to do baby showers. This helps give them their dignity back.” Cesar Mejia Miranda, left, and his wife Maria Reyes Marcado are also immigrants from Honduras. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Alvin Reyes relaxes with his 7-week-old baby boy at Iglesia de Todas Las Naciones church in Tijuana on Monday, December 3, 2018. The church took in three migrant families and one 16-year-old boy traveling alone, who were part of the caravan to the US. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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Erly Marsial and Alvin Reyes 7-week-old son Alvin, had an interesting start to life after being born in Mexico while part of a caravan traveling to the US to seek asylum. The family is from Honduras. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Shannon Chang, with Activate Labs, an Orange County-based nonprofit, takes part in a baby shower in Tijuana on Monday, December 3, 2018. She helps asylum-seeking families by bonding with their children. “Their everyday is the same and parents are often stressed. Children see me as someone to play with and I dont carry the stress their parents do.” (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Kenia Suarez and Cesar Mejia Perez play with their 10-month old son Cesar at Iglesia de Todas Las Naciones church, where they found refuge in Tijuana on Monday, December 3, 2018. The Honduran family is part of a caravan of refugees seeking asylum in the US. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Erly Marsial and Alvin Reyes cut a cake with their 7-week-old son, Alvin, during a baby shower in Tijuana on Monday, December 3, 2018. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Monica Curca with the Orange County nonprofit Activate Labs, throws a baby shower for Erly Marsials 7-week-old baby in Tijuana on Monday, December 3, 2018. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Erly Marsial is all smiles as she holds a sign saying “Congratulations Baby Alvin” during a baby shower for her 7-week old, in Tijuana on Monday, December 3, 2018.(Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Carolina Mejia, 12, a refugee from Honduras, was taken in by Iglesia de Todas Las Naciones, or Church of All Nations, in Tijuana. Three families and a teenage boy traveling alone in the caravan of immigrants, found shelter at the church where volunteers try to provide activities to keep the children occupied. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A young refugee takes part in art therapy sponsored by the Orange County based nonprofit, Activate Labs, in Tijuana on Monday, December 3, 2018. Founder Monica Curca calls this a “Rapid Response Creative Trauma Healing Center.” The billboard-size plastic coloring tarp will go on display in D.C., representing the asylum seekers. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Shannon Chang, with Activate Labs, an Orange County-based nonprofit, gets a kiss from Maria Reyes, 6, from Honduras on Monday, December 3, 2018 in Tijuana. Chang helps migrant families as she bonds with their children. “Their everyday is the same and parents are often stressed. Children see me as someone to play with and I dont carry the stress their parents do.” (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Monica Curca with the Orange County nonprofit Activate Labs, throws a baby shower for Erly Marsials 7-week-old baby in Tijuana on Monday, December 3, 2018. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Three refugee families and one 16-year-old boy traveling solo found shelter at Iglesia de Todas Las Naciones, or Church of All Nations, in Tijuana. They are seeking asylum in the U.S. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Raquel and Francisco Quintanilla left Honduras and her 3-year-old daughter with a grandmother, and joined the caravan in search of a better life. Now 8-months pregnant and living with hundreds of other immigrants at a shelter provided by the Mexican government, El Barretal, Francisco worries for her health because she had preeclampsia complications with her first pregnancy. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A woman and her baby girl stand outside the El Barretal, a shuttered club being used temporarily to house at least 1,500 migrants in Tijuana. She traveled with the caravan from El Salvador, fleeing the brutal Mara Salvatrucha gang, also known as MS-13, she said on Tuesday, December 4, 2018. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Three refugee families taking shelter at Iglesia de Todas Las Naciones, or Church of All Nations, leave their troubles behind, if only for an afternoon, during a baby shower in Tijuana on Monday, December 3, 2018. Erly Marsial, right, gave birth 7 weeks ago in Mexico while en route from Honduras to the US border. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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Their original goal was to deliver an American child.
“I thought I would have my baby over there,” said Alvins mother, Erly Marsial, referring to the United States.
Instead, Alvin is Mexican. Like the United States, Canada, and most other countries in the Americas, Mexico grants automatic citizenship to people born on its soil.
But Mexican law goes a step further.
Because Alvin was born in Mexico, his Honduran parents can apply for Mexican residency. And, if they follow all the rules and meet all the requirements, they also can become Mexican citizens.
For now, theyre part of the group of migrants, most from Honduras, who in recent weeks have made their way to Tijuana in hopes of crossing the Mexico-U.S. border. So far, only a few have been allowed over.
Though migration to the United States is down (especially from Mexico), the caravan has been met with fear and anger from some Americans. Some Tijuana residents also call it an invasion.
But for migrants, Mexico isnt always only a path to the United States. The country has its own long history of immigration.
And within the massive caravan – an estimated 6,500 people in all – its unclear how many are pregnant women.
The laws[hhmc]
For most of the caravan migrants, the end game is to get into the United States. But the reality is that most, for now, are in Mexico. And Mexican immigration law offers options, including the right to apply for refuge or a visa on humanitarian grounds.
Mexicos new president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, said his government will grant the Central Americans temporary work permits while their residency claims are being processed.
He also promised to work with his counterparts and companies in Central American countries for investments that would address some of the issues – including rampant violence and economic inequity– that are prompting people to walk out of their home countries with little more than the clothes on their backs.
So far, some 2,000 migrants have requested Mexican humanitarian visas, said Manuel Marin, an official with the Mexican immigration agency. Of requests processed, most have been granted, Marin added.
Meanwhile, other numbers show some of the caravan has found a destination, at least for now. As of Nov. 12, some 3,230 people have applied for refuge in Mexico, and 2,697 of those requests are being processed, according to Mexican officials. Also, 533 people who were once in the caravan have decided to return home.
For many, refuge will mean only a temporary stay until its safe to return back home, said Deputy Consul Hugo Rene Oliva from the Mexican Consulate in San Bernardino.
Its not the first time a large number of outsiders have crossed into Mexico.
During the four-decade dictatorship of Francisco Franco, which ended in 1975, many Spaniards came to Mexico and stayed. And in the early 1980s, an estimated 60,000 Guatemalans – also fleeing violence and oppression – migrated north.
“Mexico has always characterized itself as being a country that is very hospitable, and has offered asylum and refuge, to great many nationals from other countries,” Oliva said.
President Donald Trump wants Mexico to house migrants who apply for asylum in the United States while their petitions play out, a process that can take years.
Its unclear how many Central Americans from this years caravan have been sent home by Mexican authorities. About 100 were deported after a Nov. 25 melee at the border when some migrants attempted to breach the U.S. border, according to press reports.
For the parents of Alvin and other newborn Mexicans, there is another option.
The Mexican law that allows allows foreigners with Mexican-born children to obtain permanent residency dates back to 1928, according to the deputy consul in San Bernardino. That law also permits those parents to solicit citizenship after two years, provided they can speak Spanish and pass a test about Mexican history and culture.
Baby Alvins parents – Marsial and her husband, Alvin Reyes – qualify under Mexican law to be future citizens.
Lucky breaks[hhmc]
After traveling on foot and going hungry, the couple and their three children, including newborn Alvin, got lucky. They were picked up in Mexico City by Monica Curca, an Orange County activist who brought them and two other families by bus to a church in Tijuana.
While thousands of the caravan travelers are living in the makeshift dwellings that resemble refugee encampments, the Reyes and the two other families are housed at the Iglesia de Todas Las Naciones in Tijuana.
They sleep in bunk beds. They get medical care. They eat.
Curca, founder of the non-profit Activate Labs, which works to build communities, was in Mexico City last month with other activists hoping to help people in the caravan when she was asked to accompany the three families that had been left behind because of the babys birth.
“From Mexico City to Mazatlan, it was scary,” said Curca.
She noted that people repeatedly stopped them and, under color of authority, harassed and threatened to extort them.
At one point, Curca said, Alvin Reyes was asked to pay 500 pesos so that his family could continue on the journey. Instead, he brought out baby Alvins birth certificate and asked:
“Youre going to ask (money from) the parents of a Mexican?”
The question didnt always evoke sympathy. Tijuana residents are divided on how they feel about the caravans migrants.
“These families are like the walking damned,” Curca said. “Theyre damned if they stay, theyre damned if they go home.
“We just want to help them.”
After they arrived in Tijuana, Curca stayed in touch with the Reyes and the other families, even after she returned home to Orange County. Last weekend, she went back. And On Monday, Dec. 3, she organized the surprise baby shower.
They played games and laughed, had a hearty lunch with plenty of seconds. They celebrated the life of baby Alvin. The Reyes and all the families were grateful for the distraction.
Some said they had spent very little time planning the trip, choosing instead to jump into the caravan as soon as they heard of it.
“This trip was considered for less than 24 hours,” said Reyes, 39, who fixes shoes for a living but was finding little work in Honduras.
Now, in the church-turned-shelter, they have time to think about what might be next.
They might already be home.
“We wanted to go to the United States. We wanted our son to be born in the United States,” Reyes said.
“But God had a different plan.”
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