Police used tear gas to stop hundreds of migrants attempting to rush the border fence to claim asylum in the US. Mexican authorities are to deport migrants accused of trying ‘violently’ to cross the border.
All border traffic was halted at the busy crossing between the US city of San Diego and the Mexican city of Tijuana on Sunday for several hours after migrants from Central America attempted to make their way over the border fence, the US Customs and Border Protection (CPB) agency said.
Hundreds of migrants, mostly men, made a dash for the border fence and tried to climb over, officials said. Border security officers used tear gas to disperse the migrants.
The more than 4,700 Central American migrants have gathered in Tijuana after traveling through Mexico during the last several weeks largely on foot in so-called caravans. They have been waiting in a stadium in Tijuana for chance to gain entry to the United States.
Most of them say they are fleeing violence and poverty in their home countries and hope for asylum. Thousands more are travelling through Mexico toward the border with the same aspirations.
In a news release on Saturday the CBP said that agents at a different border crossing near Yuma, Arizona, had rocks thrown at them when they tried to arrest an individual who claimed to have been part of a migrant caravan.
The migrants carried hand-painted American and Honduran flags and chanted: “We are not criminals! We are international workers!”
Local media reported that US Border Patrol helicopters were hovering above the crossing as border agents attempted to hold firm on the ground.
More than 5,000 migrants have been camped in and around a sports complex in Tijuana after making their way through Mexico in recent weeks.
Many hope to apply for asylum in the US. Agents at the San Ysidro entry point are processing fewer than 100 asylum petitions a day.
President Trump meanwhile, was busy on Twitter on Sunday to express his displeasure with the migrant caravans coming up from Central America.