US shuts down busy border crossing
TIJUANA: United States authorities shut the country’s busiest border crossing and fired tear gas into Mexico yesterday to repel Central American migrants approaching the border after US President Donald Trump vowed the asylumseekers would not easily enter the country.
Traffic in both directions was suspended at the San Ysidro port of entry between San Diego and Tijuana, US officials said, disrupting trade.
An average of 70,000 vehicles and 20,000 pedestrians usually cross from Mexico to the United States at San Ysidro each day, the US General Services Administration said.
Pedestrian crossings and Mexicobound vehicle traffic later resumed after being halted for several hours, officials said.
Tensions on the border had been rising in recent days, with thousands of Central American migrants camped out in a sports stadium in Tijuana. Yesterday, Mexican police broke up the latest in a series of daily protests, triggering a rush towards the US border.
US Customs and Border Protection officers stopped the migrants with a volley of canisters emitting large clouds of gas as US and Mexican government helicopters clattered overhead.
The Mexican Government said it had retaken control of the border crossing after nearly 500 migrants tried to cross ‘‘in a violent manner,’’ and vowed to immediately deport Central Americans who attempt to enter the United States illegally.
Trump has raised alarm for weeks about the caravan of Central American migrants as it approached the United States, its members planning to apply for asylum on reaching the country.
The mostly Honduran migrants are fleeing poverty and violence and have said they would wait in Tijuana until they could request asylum in the US.
Hundreds of caravan members including women and children protested peacefully yesterday with chants of ‘‘We aren’t criminals! We are hard workers’’. As they neared the border, they were stopped by Mexican authorities, who told them to wait for permission.
As it became clear they would not get permission, people started to express frustration.
Groups of migrants, some bearing the Honduran flag, broke off and headed towards the border fence, where US Customs and Border Protection officers gathered on the other side, backed by US military police, San Diego police and the California Highway Patrol.
US authorities responded with tear gas after the migrants hit them with projectiles, US Customs and Border Protection said on Twitter.
‘‘Border Patrol agents deployed tear gas to dispel the group because of the risk to agents’ safety.’’
Protesters were caught between the Mexican and US authorities. A young woman fell to the ground unconscious and two babies cried, tears streaming from the gas, a witness said.
‘‘They want us to wait in Mexico but I for one am desperate. My little girl is sick and I don’t even have money for milk,’’ said Joseph Garcia (32), of Honduras. ‘‘I can’t stand it any more.’’
Trump has deployed military forces to the border to support the Border Patrol and threatened last week to close the entire southern border.
US and Mexican negotiators met yesterday to discuss a plan to keep the migrants in Mexico while their asylum claims are heard. Normally, asylumseekers announce their intention on arriving at US ports of entry or after crossing the border illegally. — Reuters
❛ They want us to wait in Mexico but I for
one am desperate