US unfurls miles of ‘border’ fencing
Tijuana protesters chant migrants ‘Out!’
LAREDO, United States, Nov 19, (Agencies): They started work in the cool of the morning and moved quickly, uncoiling reel after reel of vicious-looking fencing and tying it with barbed wire to green poles hammered into the ground.
Over the course of three days, a gleaming, shoulders-high barrier of concertina-wire emerged like a silver snake along a lush riverbank, stretching as far as the eye could see.
This was the work of 100 or so American troops from the 19th Engineer Battalion, based in Fort Knox, Kentucky.
Rather than finding themselves in a faroff war zone, the soldiers are in Laredo, a busy border town overlooking a stretch of the Rio Grande river in southwest Texas, carrying out controversial orders from President Donald Trump.
He has sent about 5,800 troops to the border to forestall the arrival of large groups of Central American migrants traveling through Mexico and towards the US, in a move critics decry as a costly political stunt to galvanize supporters ahead of midterm elections earlier this month.
So far at least, the most visible aspect of Trump’s deployment is the fence, a visible deterrent and physical obstacle to migrants, designed to corral would-be asylum seekers towards organized points of entry into the US.
Over the weekend, Lieutenant Alan Koepnick’s platoon could be seen stringing concertina wire, which is built to snag clothing, along one edge of a quiet riverside park near downtown Laredo.
As families walked dogs, grilled sausages and relaxed, the soldiers mounted the wire, occasionally ripping their camouflaged uniforms on its metal barbs.
Koepnick said some Laredo residents had voiced disquiet about the fencing and the presence of US troops.
About 100 yards (meters) behind him, a group of people on the Mexican side of the river could be seen standing on the bank.
He and his soldiers were unarmed, but a group of armed military police officers stood by to provide “force protection.”
Meanwhile, Hundreds of Tijuana residents
office, though many in the West Wing were skeptical. (Agencies)
WH again threatens Acosta:
The Trump administration is congregated around a monument in an affluent section of the city south of California on Sunday to protest the thousands of Central American migrants who have arrived via caravan in hopes of a new life in the US
Tensions have built as nearly 3,000 migrants from the caravan poured into Tijuana in recent days after more than a month on the road, and with many more months ahead of them while they seek asylum. The federal government estimates the number of migrants could soon swell to 10,000.
threatening to again suspend White House press credentials for CNN reporter Jim Acosta.
After a federal judge ordered that Acosta’s credentials be temporarily restored Friday, the
US border inspectors are processing only about 100 asylum claims a day at Tijuana’s main crossing to San Diego. Asylum seekers register their names in a tattered notebook managed by migrants themselves that had more than 3,000 names even before the caravan arrived.
On Sunday, displeased Tijuana residents waved Mexican flags, sang the Mexican national anthem and chanted “Out! Out!” in front of a statue of the Aztec ruler Cuauhtemoc, 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) from the US border.
White House sent Acosta a letter saying they had made the “preliminary decision” to suspend his pass when the judge’s order expires.
The White House argues Acosta
did not follow “basic standards” at a news conference when he scrapped with President Donald Trump.
In a court filing Monday, CNN said the administration was creating “retroactive due process.” The network tweeted that the White House “is continuing to violate the First and Fifth amendments of the Constitution.” (AP)
2-year-old beaten, burned:
Police in the Fort Worth area say a 2-year-old girl died after a caregiver hit her with a belt and burned her buttocks for discipline.
Police were called to an apartment in Arlington early Saturday because a child wasn’t breathing. Aniyah Darnell was pronounced dead at a hospital. An autopsy will determine the cause of death.
An affidavit says Shamonica Page admitted she repeatedly struck Aniyah and that she didn’t seek medical help for the burn. She told police she had been caring for Aniyah since August for the girl’s mother. Her precise relationship to Aniyah is unclear. (AP)