The mayor of Tijuana has declared a humanitarian crisis in his border city and said he was asking the United Nations for aid to deal with the approximately 5,000 Central American migrants, most of whom are camped inside a sports complex.

The comments by Juan Manuel Gastelum came as city officials and volunteers worked to assist the 4,976 men, women and children who arrived after more than a month on the road. The Trump administration has spent weeks lambasting the caravan, which it said was filled with criminals, gang members and even terrorists.

Manuel Figueroa, who leads the city’s social services department, said Tijuana was bringing in portable toilets and showers, as well as shampoo and soap, but
it was not enough.

The mayor also criticised the federal government for not taking more seriously Donald Trump’s threat to shut down the border if his administration determined Mexico had lost “control” of the situation in Tijuana. “That’s serious,” he said.

The migrants also were receiving support from local churches, private citizens who have been providing food, as well as various agencies of the Baja California state government, which says it identified 7,000 job openings for those who qualify.

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