Migrant crisis leads to security boost

MEXICO LOOKED set to shore up security near its border with the United States on Monday, as police lined up outside a shelter in the city of Tijuana and told Central American migrants they couldn’t walk towards the border area.

Mexico’s National Migration Institute said that 98 migrants were being deported after they tried to breach the US border, and US agents fired tear gas into Mexico to stop them. Mexico’s Interior Department said about 500 migrants were involved in the attempt to rush the border, while US authorities put the number at 1,000.

Mexican officials said the migrants had taken part in “violent” chaos, which originally began as a peaceful march to appeal for the US to speed up the processing of asylum claims for Central American migrants marooned in Tijuana.

US Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said on a call with reporters that 69 migrants who tried to cross the border illegally were arrested on the California side.

He said the Border Patrol’s use-of-force policy allows agents to use tear gas and other nonlethal methods, but the incident would be reviewed and the situation was resolved without serious injury.

“As the events unfolded, quick, decisive and effective action prevented an extremely dangerous situation,” he said.

But on Monday, the incident had left many migrants sullen, wondering whether the unrest had spoiled whatever possibilities they might have had for making asylum cases.

Isauro Mejia, 46, of Cortes, Honduras, looked for a cup of coffee early Monday morning after spending the prior day caught up in the clash.

“The way things went yesterday ... I think there is no chance,” Mejia said.

In rare criticism of the migrants, Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission said it “reiterates that members of the caravans that cross our country should respect Mexican laws and not engage in actions that affect the communities they pass through.”

PROTECTING RIGHTS

“It is important to note that the fact the Mexican government protects their rights,” the commission said, “does not imply a free pass to break the law.”

The Sunday incident began after a large group marched to the US border to make the migrants’ plight more visible to the governments of Mexico and the US. Some attempted to get through the fencing and wire separating the two countries, leading US agents to fire the tear gas.

American authorities also shut down the nation’s busiest border crossing at San Ysidro for several hours at the end of the Thanksgiving weekend.

Lurbin Sarmiento, 26, of Copan, Honduras, said she had been with her four-year-old daughter at a concrete riverbed, which had a trickle of water from the Tijuana River, when US agents fired the gas.

“We ran, but the smoke always reached us and my daughter was choking,” Sarmiento said, visibly shaken.

She said she never would have gotten that close with her daughter if she thought there would be tear gas.

Fumes were carried by the wind towards people who were hundreds of feet away.

As the chaos unfolded, shoppers just yards away on the US side streamed in and out of an outlet mall, which eventually closed.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said in a statement that US authorities will continue to have a “robust” presence along the Southwest border and that they will prosecute anyone who damages federal property or violates US sovereignty.

“DHS will not tolerate this type of lawlessness and will not hesitate to shut down ports of entry for security and publicsafety reasons,” she said.