'Out! Out!' Hundreds in Tijuana Hoping to Show Central American Caravan the Door

Hundreds of Tijuanans are protesting the thousands of Central American migrants who are camped out in their city at Mexico's border awaiting entry to the US.

Angry Tijuana residents gathered in the streets, waving Mexican flags, singing the Mexican national anthem and chanting "Out! Out!"

Over the past several days, approximately 3,000 migrants have poured into the border city, causing tensions there to boil over. Hundreds of them arrived by bus, flooding the city's crowded shelters.

The migrants – most of whom hail from Honduras, which has a murder rate of 43 per 100,000 residents – are desperate for asylum. Dozens interviewed by The Associated Press claim death threats prompted them to flee their homeland.

"We are fleeing violence," said Josue Caseres, an entertainer from Santa Barbara, Honduras. "How can they think we are going to come here to be violent?"

The journey, however, proved too arduous for some. At least 1,800 Hondurans have returned to their country since the caravan departed back in October, says Honduran ambassador Alden Rivera.

Honduran migrant Ivis Muñoz is considering doing likewise, saying that while he fears returning home, Tijuana has made it clear he and others like him aren't welcome.

"I don't know what to do," the Las Vegas Review-Journal quoted the 26-year-old.

Unmoved by their plight, many disgruntled Tijuana residents are accusing the migrants of being messy, ungrateful and a danger to their city.

And many claim the migrants' arrival is nothing short of an "invasion," noting the way they say the caravan forced its way into Mexico.

"We don't want them in Tijuana," shouted some of the demonstrators.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump is continuing to voice his own displeasure over the situation, saying that like Tijuana, "the US is ill-prepared for this invasion, and will not stand for it. They are causing crime and big problems in Mexico. Go home!"

"Catch and Release is an obsolete term. It is now Catch and Detain," he tweeted. "Illegal Immigrants trying to come into the U.S.A., often proudly flying the flag of their nation as they ask for U.S. Asylum, will be detained or turned away."