'Hope is finished': Thousands of Haitians trying to get to U.S. stranded in Tijuana

In the heart of downtown Tijuana, Mexico, there's a taco stand that no longer serves tacos.

The Loncheria Dulce gave up making them about a month agobecause there were so many Haitian migrants in the lunch lineclamouring for something familiar, something that reminded them of home.

"They themselves asked me to make their food for them," says owner Jose Luis as he simultaneously plates four dishes for the Haitians jostling for space at the lunch counter.

He hired one of the migrants to help him make dishes like poul fri (fried chicken), which he sells to the Haitians at a discount. But about an hour into lunch, the Loncheria Dulce hasalready run out. There's never enough.

Every day, more Haitians arrive, famished. They've been on the road for three months to get here.

We crossed Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemalato come here.- Joubert Alizaire, 26

"We crossed Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemalato come here,"says 26-year-old JoubertAlizaire.

He's among the close to 50,000 Haitians who migrated to Brazil after the 2010 earthquake devastated parts of their country. Most of them went to work on Olympic construction. When the Olympics ended,so did the work. But the U.S. offered them a lifeline of sorts, announcing that U.S.Immigration and Customs Enforcementwould stop deportingHaitians who were in the country illegally.

That's what promptedmany Haitians like Jean-Ludger Sainnovalto begin a tortuouscross-continentaljourney. He says he walked much of the way, over mountains, through rivers and jungle.

"You never forget a journey like that," Sainnoval says. "We had nothing to eat, no water, nothing to drink.We have friends that left Brazil but didn't make it here. Some because it was too hard. Some because they died."

U.S. resumes 'removing' Haitians

Close to 5,000 Haitians managed to make it all the wayto Tijuana, at the Mexico-U.S. border. But thenin Septemberthe U.S. reversed the policy and said it would resume "removing" Haitian nationals, claiming that conditions in Haiti had improved. Those who feared persecution back home could apply for asylum.

After making the long, difficult trek, Haitians now showingup at the border without proper documentationcould be detained or deported. Many liken it to being invited to someone's home, then getting arrested as soon as you enter. With Donald Trump in the White House, getting into the U.S. legally or illegally will probably be even tougher, says RenJean-Baptiste.

"The messages [myfriends]send on social mediasaying that they're being deported ...I read them," he says. "Many of us have spent so much money to get to this point, the money is gone. Life isn't finishedbut hope is finished."

Now, on almost every block in downtown Tijuana you can see Haitians, standing aroundor walking the streets with their belongings, sometimes with their children. In limbo.

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Sainnoval travelled 11,000kilometres to get to Tijuana, but he's too afraid to walk the last 500 metres to the border, almost certain he'll be sent back to Haiti. So what now?

He shakes his head. "I can't say, it's hard. If you make a journey like this and then don't succeed...?"

He doesn't even want to think about it, he says.

"It's too hard."

So he'll wait. And hope the U.S. will change itsmind. Again.