For some caravan migrant moms, and babies, the future might be Mexico

The “It’s 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 mother’s 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 Alvin’s arrival prompted the pit stop.

Their original goal was to deliver an American child.

“I thought I would have my baby over there,” said Alvin’s 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, they’re 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 isn’t 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 – it’s unclear how many are pregnant women.

The laws

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.

Mexico’s 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 it’s safe to return back home, said Deputy Consul Hugo Rene Oliva from the Mexican Consulate in San Bernardino.

It’s 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.

It’s unclear how many Central Americans from this year’s 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 Alvin’s parents – Marsial and her husband, Alvin Reyes – qualify under Mexican law to be future citizens.

Lucky breaks

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 baby’s 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 Alvin’s birth certificate and asked:

“You’re going to ask (money from) the parents of a Mexican?”

The question didn’t always evoke sympathy. Tijuana residents are divided on how they feel about the caravan’s migrants.

“These families are like the walking damned,” Curca said. “They’re damned if they stay, they’re 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.”