Mexican Border Mayor Claims Judge Won’t Let Him Work With Immigration Officials

The mayor of the Mexican border city of Tijuana claims that a federal judge ordered him to stop turning detained migrants over to immigration authorities. The judge also told him to stop speaking “freely” about the migrant caravan.

Juez Federal me notificó me abstenga de expresarme libremente sobre la #CaravanaMigrante.
Esto significa una total #Censura a mi libertad de expresión y de los ciudadanos que yo represento.
Aunado a ello, me instruye a que le ordene a la SSPM ya no poder presentarlos al #INAMI .

— Juan Manuel Gastélum (@ALCDETI) December 29, 2018

Tijuana Mayor Juan Manuel Gastelum become a key figure in the Migrant Caravan issue when thousands of Honduran nationals made their way to his city while on their way to California. Soon after their arrival, Gastelum made headlines for declaring a humanitarian crisis and speaking out about the federal government failing to provide adequate supplies. He said the lack of funding left his city to pick up the slack, Breitbart News reported at the time. The sudden arrival of the migrants also led to protests where residents unhappy with the migrants chanted for them to leave and at times clashed in the streets. The mayor was often critical of the trash and lack of proper sanitary conditions caused by having thousands of migrants housed in one place.

Felicito a todos los funcionarios públicos que estuvieron al cien por ciento, atendiendo y controlando el refugio temporal Benito Juarez. Se está realizando la limpieza para que la Unidad Deportiva regrese a sus actividades. Confía, #Tijuana es primero!!! pic.twitter.com/GLM6uDMWch

— Juan Manuel Gastélum (@ALCDETI) December 21, 2018

The mayor also spoke out about the criminal activity within some of the caravan members. He began cracking down on some of the migrants who his police officers arrested for various crimes and turned them over to Mexican federal authorities for deportation, Breitbart News reported.

Tijuanenses, les informo que esta madrugada se recuperó el espacio y la tranquilidad de los vecinos de la calle 5 de mayo. La #CaravanaMigrante que estaban a las afueras de la Unidad Deportiva Benito Juarez, fueron movidas al refugio temporal El Barretal. pic.twitter.com/JNkJHonCau

— Juan Manuel Gastélum (@ALCDETI) December 20, 2018

Most recently, Gastelum took to social media to claim that an unnamed Mexican federal judge had ordered him to stop speaking “freely” about the caravan. A move that the mayor claimed was a “total censure” to his “freedom of expression” and a disservice to the people he represents.

Policía Municipal de Tijuana, asegura responsables de estos actos. El #GobFed a través de Secretario @navarreteprida lo manifestó @mileniotv: “Los responsables de violar la ley por parte de la #CaravanaMigrante, serán deportados”. pic.twitter.com/UL2Oa4LapY

— Juan Manuel Gastélum (@ALCDETI) November 25, 2018

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and Stephen K. Bannon.  You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com. 

Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and Stephen K. Bannon. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.