Seven in 10 Mexicans hold a negative view of the Central American migrant caravan traveling through their country to the US, according to a Mexican newspaper.

Additionally, majorities of those polled by El Universal said they supported tougher immigration enforcement and rejected calls to give the migrants Mexican work visas.

“46% of those surveyed considered that crime would increase, and another 27.1% would ‘take jobs away from Mexicans,’ so that the sum of both percentages shows that 73.1% of citizens have an unfavorable opinion of the phenomenon,” reported the newspaper, translated from Spanish.

This is an increase of nearly 10 percentage points since the newspaper took a similar poll in October.

A majority of respondents, 52.8%, also disagreed with Mexico’s president-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador who suggested giving work visas to the migrants arriving in Mexico.

An even larger majority, 55.8%, said López Obrador should act tougher on enforcing Mexico’s southern border.

NBC News also reported that Tijuana residents in particular are upset at the migrant caravan over its standoff with US authorities and the ensuing disruptions at the border.

“For the more than 6 million people living in the San Diego-Tijuana border, which moves a $220 billion economy between the U.S. and Mexico, the San Ysidro Port of Entry is crucial in their lives,” the outlet stated. “Over 25 million vehicles containing roughly 48 million passengers and more than 16 million pedestrians go between the U.S. and Mexico to go to work and school, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.”

“After the shutdown, some Tijuana residents and business owners came out with bats and sticks and threatened the migrants.”

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