TIJUANA, Mexico — Steam curls off a plate overloaded with fresh tamales as refugees gather around a buffet-style dinner table, laughing together on a chilly evening here.
Nearby, a pregnant woman shoos away toddlers underfoot, and one woman flips the hair of a blond wig so grand, it practically sweeps the cracked concrete floor.
Across the room, a jovial young man teases a group of excited boys who are lining up to hit a rainbow-shaped pinata — a nod to the L.G.T.B.Q.-friendly space of Casa de Luz, where everyone gathered for this posada celebration in December.
Casa, which opened in February 2019, is one of a handful of Tijuana shelters catering to a group that includes trans women, gay men and mothers traveling alone with children — among.