For 2nd day, Central American asylum seekers can’t enter U.S.

TIJUANA, Mexico — About 200 people in a caravan of Central American asylum seekers waited on the Mexican border with San Diego for a second straight day on Monday to turn themselves in to U.S. border inspectors, who said the nation’s busiest crossing facility did not have enough space to accommodate them.

After a monthlong journey across Mexico under the Trump administration’s watchful eye, the asylum seekers faced an unexpected twist Sunday when U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said San Diego’s San Ysidro border crossing facility had “reached capacity.” The agency said Monday that it had no estimate when the location would accept new asylum applications.

About 50 people, many of them women and children, camped overnight on blankets and backpacks in Tijuana outside the Mexican entrance to the border crossing. The crowd grew Monday, assembled behind metal gates that Mexican authorities erected to avoid impeding the flow of others going to the United States for work, school and recreation. Irineo Mujica, a caravan organizer, alleged that U.S. authorities were refusing entry in an effort to dissuade people from trying.

Customs and Border Protection said Sunday that it will resume asylum processing at the San Diego crossing when it has more space and resources.

The San Ysidro border inspection facility that divides San Diego from Tijuana can hold about 300 people. The agency processed about 8,000 asylum cases from October through February at the crossing, or about 50 a day.

ALEJANDRO TAMAYO/SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE Volunteers hand out meals Monday at El Chapparal border crossing in Tijuana, Mexico, where about 200 people from Central America are hoping to gain asylum in the U.S.