Mexico Confirms: Migrant Group That Stormed US Border Will Be Deported
A wave of migrants massed at the U.S.-Mexico border tried to storm their way into the United States on Sunday.
Not only did they fail, but some of those who tried to force their way into the country will be deported from Mexico, officials said Sunday.
Mexican officials said that at least 39 of the 500 people who tried to rush the border will be deported, CNN reported.
Sunday’s incident underscored the rising tensions along the border in Tijuana, where several thousand migrants have come after coming in mass groups from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. Estimates of migrants in the city range from 5,000 to 7,000, with more migrant caravans on the way.
Thousands of Additional Migrants Headed to U.S. Border https://t.co/G7LlAwStVx
— Louie Gohmert (@replouiegohmert) November 26, 2018
On Sunday, a large number of migrants dashed for the border in an attempt to force their way past Border Patrol agents.
One group “attempted to breach legacy fence infrastructure along the border and sought to harm CBP personnel by throwing projectiles at them,” Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen said in a statement, CNN reported.
“DHS will not tolerate this type of lawlessness and will not hesitate to shut down ports of entry for security and public safety reasons. We will also seek to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law anyone who destroys federal property, endangers our front-line operators, or violates our nation’s sovereignty,” Nielsen said.
Honduran Ana Zúñiga, 23, said she saw migrants open a small hole in concertina wire that had been strung to impede migrants’ progress when they try to cross the border, The Guardian reported.
She said once the hole was created, tear gas was used on the migrants.
“We ran but when you run the gas asphyxiates you more,” she said, holding her infant daughter.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said projectiles thrown by the migrants struck several agents.
Today, several migrants threw projectiles at the agents in San Diego. Border Patrol agents deployed tear gas to dispel the group because of the risk to agents’ safety. Several agents were hit by the projectiles. The situation is evolving and a statement is forthcoming.
— CBP (@CBP) November 25, 2018
“Border Patrol agents deployed tear gas to dispel the group because of the risk to agents’ safety,” the agency tweeted.
Deploying the gas led the crowd to disperse.
Vowing to outlast the migrants, Nielsen said the U.S. will continue its “robust” presence along the border, Fox News reported.
Mexico’s Interior Ministry called Sunday’s action “acts of provocation” and warned that migrants are hurting their cause by repeating any attempt to storm the border.
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