Uncertainty grips caravan at border
Volatility in Mexico after agents disperse charging migrants
TIJUANA, Mexico — A growing number of Central American migrants in this border town awaiting their chance to claim asylum in the United States are thinking twice after a small group of migrants tried to rush the U.S.-Mexico border on Sunday.
U.S. border agents fired tear gas into Mexico near the San Ysidro port of entry to disperse the crowds of migrants, including women and children, that amassed at the border. They had started out in a peaceful march on Sunday to pressure U.S. authorities to speed the processing of asylum claims.
Sunday’s incident left many of the migrants, who had traveled to Tijuana in a caravan, questioning whether they should instead apply for asylum in Mexico, or even return to their countries of origin, rather than remain in legal limbo.
Mexican government officials, in interviews with Mexican media, said Monday that they had deported 98 migrants who had rushed the border.
Nearly 500 Mexican federal police officers surrounded the shelter Monday morning, dressed in full riot gear. After a few hours, most of the officers remained in place but had packed their gear into their 10 charter buses.
Police haven’t said why they were there. But for many of the migrants, the message was clear: Don’t rush the border again.
On Monday, migrants queued in long lines at a tent set up by the United Nations Office of International Migration outside the outdoor sports complex that’s operating as a makeshift shelter.
The agency is helping arrange travel for migrants who want to voluntarily return to their home countries.
Jose Alberto Rodriguez, a migrant from Copan, Honduras, arrived in Tijuana with his wife more than a month ago, long before the arrival of 5,700 migrants in the past two weeks. He was one of nearly a dozen people waiting to talk to one of two staff members at the Office of International Migration tent.
“If we remain here, with each day we’ll just end up worse,” Rodriguez said.
He and his wife were part of the group that marched to the border on Sunday and were sprayed with tear gas.
He said that after witnessing what happened, and seeing children get hurt, he has decided to go back to Honduras to figure things out there, rather than to remain “exposed” in Tijuana.
But not everyone said they’re willing or able to return home.
Many migrants here fled their home countries because of gang violence or impoverished lives.
Despite the long waits to claim asylum, lasting several weeks, some migrants denounced Sunday’s incident.
“That was wrong. It’s not good to try to do things by force,” said Miguel Angel Lazo Guillen, a migrant from Choluteco, Honduras, who arrived Sunday night after the incident.
“That’s what makes me feel bad,” he said. “I’m afraid that they will try it again and there will be people getting beaten.”