US agents fire tear gas at southern border

ABC News (America)

Hundreds of migrants approaching the U.S. border from Mexico were enveloped with tear gas Sunday after several tried to make it past fencing and wire separating the two countries.

Earlier in the morning, a group of Central Americans staged a peaceful march to appeal for the U.S. to speed up the asylum claims process, but their demonstration devolved as they neared the crossing with the U.S. and some saw an opportunity to breach the border.

U.S. agents shot several rounds of gas, according to an Associated Press reporter on the scene, after migrants attempted to penetrate several points along the border. Migrants sought to squeeze through gaps in wire, climb over fences and peel back metal sheeting to enter.

Children screamed and coughed in the mayhem of the tear gas. Fumes were carried by the wind toward people who were hundreds of feet away, not attempting to enter the U.S.

Yards away on the U.S. side, shoppers streamed in and out of an outlet mall.

Honduran Ana Zuniga, 23, said she saw other migrants open a small hole in concertina wire at a gap on the Mexican side of a levee, at which point U.S. agents fired tear gas at them.

"We ran, but when you run the gas asphyxiates you more," she told the AP while cradling her 3-year-old daughter Valery in her arms.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopters flew overhead, while U.S. agents held vigil on foot beyond the wire fence in California. The Border Patrol office in San Diego said via Twitter that pedestrian crossings have been suspended at the San Ysidro port of entry at both the East and West facilities. All northbound and southbound traffic was halted.

Earlier Sunday, the group of several hundred migrants pushed past a blockade of Mexican police who were standing guard near the international border crossing. They appeared to easily pass through without using violence, and some of the migrants called on each other to remain peaceful.

They carried hand-painted American and Honduran flags while chanting: "We are not criminals! We are international workers!"

Migrants were asked by police to turn back toward Mexico.

Around 5,000 migrants have been camped in and around a sports complex in Tijuana after making their way through Mexico in recent weeks via caravan. Many hope to apply for asylum in the U.S., but agents at the San Ysidro entry point are processing fewer than 100 asylum petitions a day.

Irineo Mujica, who has accompanied the migrants for weeks as part of the aid group Pueblo Sin Fronteras, said the aim of Sunday's march toward the U.S. border was to make the migrants' plight more visible to the governments of Mexico and the U.S.

"We can't have all these people here," Mujica told The Associated Press.

Tijuana Mayor Juan Manuel Gastelum on Friday declared a humanitarian crisis in his border city of 1.6 million, which he says is struggling to accommodate the crush of migrants.

U.S. President Donald Trump took to Twitter Sunday to express his displeasure with the caravans in Mexico.

"Would be very SMART if Mexico would stop the Caravans long before they get to our Southern Border, or if originating countries would not let them form (it is a way they get certain people out of their country and dump in U.S. No longer)," he wrote.

Mexico's Interior Ministry said Sunday the country has sent 11,000 Central Americans back to their countries of origin since Oct. 19. It said that 1,906 of them were members of the recent caravans.

Mexico is on track to send a total of around 100,000 Central Americans back home by the end of this year.

Just... damn! Nothing more to say on my end.

Looks like the US is defending themselves from an invasion like Trump said.

Ugh conservatives.

He isn't wrong.

Yes he is. Spraying into another country and hitting bystanders is an ass move.

It's simple. Don't try to force your way into the country. Don't be there.

So you're ignoring that bystanders in another country were hit that weren't doing anything wrong. Convenient for you.

Until I see this mass amount of migrants carry weapons to the border and started opening fire on US border agents, civilians and Military, I refuse to call this an invasion.

Which bystanders? this is the border crossing, not downtown Mexico City.

And if anyone is dumb enough to stand so close to the American border while a bunch of crazy illegal criminals are trying to invade, then they can´t claim to be "innocent bystanders"

It's not. But they blindly follow everything their fuh....er leader says.

Why were innocents anywhere near this?

Get real.

I guess you couldn't or didn't read the article. Get real.

And another trump supporter that doesn't read. I'm seeing a pattern here.

@LJS9502_basic: And we are back to the normal LJS trolling where you just disregard the truth and make up shit.

@LJS9502_basic: What would be your solution? Let them in and give them free housing?

Yep back to normal. When presented with a counter argument you can't handle you throw out the troll word. You're so transparent.

You had guards there. Go over to the place they were trying to crash and deal with it. You don't have to gas everyone. Or in your world is okay to gas babies and children? Why I don't take republican anti abortionists seriously. They don't give a damn about kids.

At least it's not the northern border.

Read the article. Exactly what I said was correct.

Well it wasn't.........

@LJS9502_basic: You miss the part where they were forcing past the guards? How do the guards " take care of it"? They are considerably outnumbered so how do they do that exactly?

I've got a few problems with this:

1. They're not a threat. Armed? Nope. Violent? The most you can say is they might be a little physical, but they're not trying to start any fights.

2. The US fired weapons into Mexico, where winds carried gas away, harming innocent bystanders. Who is the aggressor now?

3. Why does the US have to be so aggressive? Grab who you can now, don't make a fuss, and pick up the rest later.

4. What's the big deal? Thousands of people come over illegally every year seeking work, what's a few thousand asylum seekers going to harm? These people are not parasites, they are escaping violence, corruption, and depression in their home countries.

I think the biggest problem I have is this: the US should be better than this. I think there's a lot to this that we are not showing that the US is handling well, so saying we are teargassing everyone is a little biased because I know for a fact we have, at the least, taken a lot of these people in to camps and sheltered and fed them. But this is still fracked up.

1. We can't spot the threat if all of them come here without going through the proper process. This risks having terrorists and spies from coming through.

2. That's defending sovereignty and creating an example. Sometimes the hardline route is all you have.

3. Because people like you downplay immigration laws, and others see that as a greenlight to break the law.

4. They often stagnate wages and lower standards.

So much truth to those 4 statements. I am okay with these people entering our country the proper way. I am not okay with them just jumping the border. Anyone who is okay with anyone freely crossing our border with no vetting needs to have their heads examined.

Jumping out border is ILLEGAL why is this so hard for people to understand? Also Mexico offered these people asylum already.

They weren't trying to force themselves into the country. They tried to present themselves at a legal port of entry, as they were directed to by U.S. law enforcement, but Trump already ordered all the nearby ports of entry closed. How convenient that he closes the places where legal immigration is supposed to take place before launching a media assault on illegal immigration, and you conservative lemmings eat it right up. Anyway, they can't present at a port of entry, the U.S. is pressuring Mexico to deny them any place to stay while they're applying for asylum, where exactly are they supposed to go? Your bold-faced lie that you only care about illegal immigration is being exposed to the entire world by your defense of blatant attempts to restrict legal immigration.

Hitting anyone especially innocent children just because they can’t speak English is despicable. I can’t understand a lick of Spanish but I am sure us Americans and Mexicans can teach each other a lot.

Migrant caravan: Mexico to deport group which stormed US border.

An excerpt:

Mexico will deport up to 500 migrants who attempted to storm the US border, according to its interior ministry.

The group were rounded up after trying to cross the border "violently" and "illegally" on Sunday, the ministry said in a statement.

Video footage shows dozens of people - including women and children - running towards the fence that separates the two countries near the city of Tijuana.

They were repelled by tear gas used by US border officers.

Mexico's interior ministry said in a statement that a group of "nearly 500 migrants" had "tried to cross the border in a violent way".

Those identified as having taken part in these "violent events" would be deported immediately, it said.

The ministry added that, "far from helping their objectives", the migrants' actions had violated the legal migration framework and could have led to a "serious incident".

House should pass an immigration bill, try to force the Senate's hand.

LOL, a bunch of women and children running is violent, but firing tear gas containers into a crowd of civilians isn't.

And like I said, they first tried to present themselves at a legal port of entry to conform precisely with asylum law, but the nearest port of entry had been closed. If conservatives really care about protecting legal immigration then they should be outraged at the Trump administration's blatantly craven attempt to prevent it.

Wait... really?

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/san-diego-border-crossing-shut-down-after-migrants-try-entering-n939891

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/11/trump-asylum-policy-entrapment.html

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/migrant-caravan-us-mexico-border-tijuana-close-immigration-fence-wall-trump-a8641981.html

It's actually kind of funny in a really depressing way, almost every link I googled said that the border points were shut down IN RESPONSE to migrants rushing the border, but, as my last link shows, news outlets have been reporting on the border crossings closing for almost a week now. How to hack the news media 101.

This is only the second phase, wait till the third phase comes. These events, incidents or whatever you want call it seem to come in phases. The third phase should start many years later after the second phase...

Until they were.

Lying from a conservative, what a surprise!

So you are calling fake news on the original story?

There was never any attempt to cross the border?

@Damedius: lol exactly, how are you guys cool with people trying to tear down the wire and fences to get in. Tear gas is not lethal big whoop, they are lucky to not get hit by rubber bullets.

People need to stop the "but the poor children" thier stupid ass parents are the ones you should be mad at if you care about the children, for dragging them on a trip across all of central america to break the law in another country, that is not the way you handle things, they knew the risks, what do you think they should do? just stand there and wave as they cross??? Would be awesome to break the law in front of police and not be stopped am I right?

How many times were they told there was going to be force if they tried to enter anywhere but an official port of entry? I think at least a dozen, and yet they still tried to cross. Not smart.

Just like the "Syrian refugees" who invaded Europe, they are using women and children as media magnets and human shields. Don't be mistaken, this caravan is mostly unskilled young men.

Like the President says..they are not sending their best

@LJS9502_basic:

Who cares? Mexico is a problem child nation.

"Earlier in the morning, a group of Central Americans staged a peaceful march to appeal for the U.S. to speed up the asylum claims process, but their demonstration devolved as they neared the crossing with the U.S. and some saw an opportunity to breach the border."

Just like that, everything you just said was proven wrong.

so 'invading' another country could be described as an act of immigration.

no?...think before you answer

Sure, just like the Germans Immigrated into Poland.

exactly.

or how americans immigrated into Iraq

Build the wall and we won't have to gas them. Next time we may have to shoot them.

as a liberal I am here to say I totally and absolutely support the idea of letting people in but NOT giving them free shit.

so despite how the Right likes to play the victim and suggest that its easier to build a wall and gas people then it is to convince liberals to not give away 'free housing' its actually not the case

@tryit: play the victim? Thats all you do. The fact is countries have borders and there are laws to come here. Obey them or pay the consequences. It's a concept none of you understand.

It's pure ignorance.

can you address the substance of what I said rather than trimming around the edges?

as a liberal I am telling you have no zero problem with the idea of not giving immigrats free shit of which I doubt we are doing nearly as much as people on the right think.

please address that point and nothing else

Only conservatives are cynical and pessimistic enough to label people who desire for nothing more than to find a better life for themselves and their families as "invaders". Just goes to demonstrate how deep down these people are nothing but selfish individuals filled to the brim with and who operate from fear and phobia. Exemplified perfectly by Trump's statement that he assumes "some" are good people.....talk about viewing the glass as half empty. The reality is the majority are good people, and some are criminals. But that's what you get from conservatives....fearful little people always looking at the negative in implementing policy.

the point was NOT 'play the victim' the point was NOT 'obey the law'

the point WAS 'as a liberal I have zero problem with the idea of not giving immigrants free shit, so why dont we start with that?'

@tryit:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/nypost.com/2018/03/10/cutting-welfare-to-illegal-aliens-would-pay-for-trumps-wall/amp/

Except they do get free shit. In some states like California it's fairly easy. And most the ones coming across the border have less then a 10th grade education.

They contribute less then they take. These are not high skilled immigrants.

"While the national media routinely report that illegal immigrants don’t go on welfare, Camarota says this is a pervasive myth. While in most cases they can’t legally qualify for welfare, food stamps, Medicaid or other public benefits, the reality is that the vast majority of households headed by illegal immigrants are on welfare through their children."

as a liberal I am saying I am FOR US CHANGING IT SO THAT THEY DO NOT GET FREE SHIT.

It is easier to take away the free shit then it is to build a wall and gas people.

why is the point I am making so %$^&*() hard for you to get your head around?

Which is easier

A. getting rid of free shit

B. Building a wall

Answer: A