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CRISIS AT SAN YSIDRO CROSSING ESCALATES AFTER BORDER PATROL AGENTS FIRE TEAR GAS TO DISPERSE MIGRANTS
troops Trump has deployed to stop the caravan from entering the US
Weeks of growing tensions in Tijuana, Mexico, over thousands of migrants who have poured in hoping to enter the United States boiled over Sunday when a group of them rushed the border, prompting US Border Patrol agents to fire tear gas to disperse them.
The clash marked a significant escalation in the migrant crisis at the border as well as the US political debate about immigration policy and border security. President Donald Trump in recent weeks has vowed to seal off the Mexican border and is pushing to keep any migrants in Mexico as they wait to file claims seeking refuge in the United States.
A growing number of migrants from Central America has made the arduous trek up through Mexico in caravans to seek asylum or escape economic hardship in the US. Many are from Honduras, a country plagued by poverty and violence.
The skirmish forced the US government to shut down the San Ysidro Port of Entry, one of the world’s busiest international crossings, for more than four hours Sunday.
The Trump administration and those who support his hard-line stance on illegal immigration immediately seized on the dramatic images from the scene, saying the chaos illustrates what they’ve long warned about.
“This makes the president’s point: That these are people who are willing to not just defy immigration law in an abstract sense — crossing a border where nobody is looking — but actually rush the border in the full light of day,” said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies.
But the images of the US government using tear gas on a group of migrants that included children disturbed others, who said it underscored the cruel approach of the Trump administration. Officials said they used tear gas after some in the group threw rocks at Border Patrol agents.
“What we saw at the San Ysidro border crossing should horrify the whole country; it was simply inhumane,” said Cristobal J Alex, president of Latino Victory Fund.
The Trump “administration has gone from locking children in cages to firing tear gas at toddlers and mothers. These families have the right to seek asylum in the United States. Denying them entry makes a mockery of our American values.”
Experts said the incident will further polarise the country even though illegal immigration overall has been at historic lows in the last several years.
“Some people are seeing an invasion, and some people are seeing toddlers being tear gassed,” said Roberto Suro, a professor of public policy at the University of Southern California. “It was already a situation that was very hard to see how it was going to be resolved. It’s going to make it that much harder.”
Federal authorities closed northbound and southbound access, as well as pedestrian access, to the San Ysidro Port of Entry about 11.30am Sunday, causing massive gridlock.
At 3.45pm authorities reopened pedestrian access. By 6pm, all northbound and southbound vehicle crossings were opened.
US Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said in a statement the department “will not tolerate this type of lawlessness and will not hesitate to shut down ports of entry for security and public safety reasons.”