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For Haitians in the U.S., this election season has been a stressful time with a presidential candidate portraying them as a threat. But just across the border in Mexico, Haitian immigrants have a different reality, far from the rhetoric of American politics. Tiki Hendrix from member station KQED in San Francisco has this report.

TYCHE HENDRICKS, BYLINE: It's not lunchtime yet at Vivianne Petitfrere's restaurant in downtown Tijuana, but she offers me a heaping plate of rice and beans and fried chicken.

VIVIANNE PETITFRERE: (Speaking Spanish).

HENDRICKS: She says she wants to introduce Mexicans to the richness of Haitian cooking. The restaurant is called Lakou Lakay, which means the patio, a place for people to gather. Petitfrere arrived in Tijuana in 2021.

PETITFRERE: (Speaking Spanish).

HENDRICKS: Like others, she says, she wanted to cross to the U.S., chasing an American dream. But three years later, she's learned Spanish and become an anchor of the Haitian community in Tijuana that numbers roughly 6,000.

PETITFRERE: (Speaking Spanish).

HENDRICKS: Petitfrere is a mother and a businesswoman, but she's also studying for a degree in social work, and she works with a community group assisting other Haitian immigrants here. Less than a decade ago, Haitians in Tijuana were migrants in transit. But the population has become more rooted, says Enrique Lucero, who just stepped down as Tijuana's head of migrant affairs.

ENRIQUE LUCERO: (Speaking Spanish).

HENDRICKS: "Haitians have stayed and started barbershops and restaurants or gone back to school," he says. In a forthcoming survey, Mexican scholars found that two-thirds of Haitian immigrants say they plan to stay in Tijuana.

(SOUNDBITE OF FOOD SIZZLING)

HENDRICKS: In the restaurant kitchen, cook Tamala Alfis is frying plantain in hot oil.

TAMALA ALFIS: (Speaking French).

HENDRICKS: She says in French that she just arrived from Haiti four months ago with a legal visa.

ALFIS: (Speaking French).

HENDRICKS: Alfis says Tijuana is peaceful compared to Haiti, where she feared crime and kidnapping.

JOSEPH SAINT: (Non-English language spoken).

HENDRICKS: Petitfrere's husband, Joseph Saint, comes in and whips up lunch for his teenage son, who's heading off to school. Saint met Petitfrere when she hired him as a driver. The couple now has a little girl.

SAINT: (Non-English language spoken).

HENDRICKS: Saint says she'll turn 2 in November. Because the baby was born in Mexico, her parents were able to become permanent residents.

SAINT: (Non-English language spoken).

HENDRICKS: Saint says he knows some Haitians still want to get to the U.S., but his life is here now. It's not always easy. Mexico has its own history with racism, and Petitfrere says it can show up as disrespect by police and other institutions.

PETITFRERE: (Speaking Spanish).

HENDRICKS: But Petitfrere feels Mexican people accept Haitians in Tijuana. As to her American dream, Petitfrere tells me it's evaporated.

PETITFRERE: (Speaking Spanish).

HENDRICKS: Now when she looks at the United States, she sees a presidential candidate stirring up fear and revulsion toward Haitian immigrants.

PETITFRERE: (Speaking Spanish).

HENDRICKS: "I feel more free here," she says. "I'm staying." For NPR News, I'm Tyche Hendricks, in Tijuana, Mexico.

(SOUNDBITE OF 9TH WONDER'S "TAO TAO LOVE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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