Migrants scale border fence to reach US
TIJUANA: Central American migrants stuck on the threshold of the United States in Mexico breached the border fence yesterday, risking almost certain detention by US authorities but hoping the illegal entry would allow them to apply for asylum.
Since midOctober, thousands of Central Americans, mostly from Honduras, have travelled north through Mexico towards the United States, some walking much of the long trek.
US President Donald Trump has vowed to stop the migrants entering, sending troops to reinforce the border and attempting a procedural change, so far denied by the courts, to require asylumseekers to remain in Mexico while their cases are heard.
Frustrated and exhausted after weeks of uncertainty, many of the migrants have become desperate since getting stuck in squalid camps in the Mexican border city of Tijuana.
So some opted to eschew legal procedures and attempt an illegal entry from Tijuana as dusk fell at a spot about 450m away from the Pacific Ocean.
In less than an hour, roughly two dozen people were seen to climb the approximately 3m fence made of thick sheets and pillars of metal. They chose a place in a large overgrown ditch where the fence is slightly lower.
Just before dusk, three thin people squeezed through the fence on the beach and were quickly picked up by the US Border Patrol, witnesses said.
But along the border inland as darkness descended, more and more migrants followed, many bringing children.
Some used a blanket as a rope to help loved ones get over.
A mother and her children made it over the first fence and disappeared into the night.
The sight of them climbing the fence encouraged others, even as a helicopter patrolled overhead on the US side.
Earlier, Karen Mayeni, a 29yearold Honduran, sized up the fence while clinging to her three children, aged 6, 11 and 12.
‘‘We’re just observing, wait ing to see what happens,’’ Mayeni said. ‘‘We’ll figure out what to do in a couple of days.’’
Ninety minutes later, she and her family were over the fence.
Some of the migrants ran to try to escape capture, but most walked slowly to where US Border Patrol officials were waiting under floodlights, to hand themselves in.
Applying for asylum at a US land border can take months, so if migrants enter illegally and present themselves to authorities, their cases could be heard more quickly.
US officials have restricted applications through the Chaparral gate in Tijuana to between 40 and 100 per day. — Reuters