Peaceful Migrants Upset with Those Who Rushed Border, 'Now We Are All in Trouble'
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article indicated that a group of around 40 people had charged the U.S. border. In actuality, that was the number of people who were expected to be criminally charged for doing so; the total number of people who charged the border was estimated to be about 500, as we had previously reported. We corrected the story about 24 hours after it was originally published, when an astute reader pointed out our error. We apologize for any confusion our mistake may have caused.
Asylum seekers temporarily residing in Tijuana are having a more difficult time entering the U.S. after a group of caravan migrants rushed the border on Sunday, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The Times reported that the group of approximately 20 asylum seekers had been residing in Tijuana for more than a month.
The group had been patiently waiting for its chance to turn themselves over to border officials.
However, a separate group of around 500 caravan migrants rushed the border on Sunday through the San Ysidro port of entry.
One group of migrants “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.
To disperse the crowd trying to storm the border, Customs and Border Protection deployed tear gas out of concern for the safety of its agents.
While the chaos ensued, the small group of asylum seekers waited along a fence near the border.
How much longer they’ll now have to wait is unclear.
Alicia Ramirez is an asylum seeker from Mexico City and was one of the migrants who was waiting along the fence.
She claims she had to flee the country after drug dealers broke into her home and threatened to kill her in front of her kids.
After hearing the San Ysidro port of entry had been closed for several hours after the confrontation, she angrily scolded those who had rushed the border over the weekend.
“They are trying to just run in,” she said. “That’s not the way to do it. I know we all want to go in, but it takes time and there is a proper process,” she said. “I’ve waited a month, even though I’m still in danger.”
Honduran migrant Dennis Martinez echoed Ramirez’s sentiments.
Like Ramirez, he fled his home after receiving threats from a gang in his hometown.
“I’m escaping a dangerous situation,” he said. “Why would I then put myself in danger, again?”
Martinez said he understands why the Mexican people aren’t pleased with the presence of the migrants in their cities.
“I can understand why the Mexican people are bothered by us,” he said.
He is still hoping to enter the U.S. legally, however, despite the attempts to rush the border by other migrants.
“I’m not trying to jump the wall,” he said. “Many of us aren’t. Why should we be punished for what a few have done?”
However, the small group of asylum seekers understands that their chances of entry have been jeopardized with the recent rush.
“That’s just not the way to do it. Now we are all in trouble,” one of them told The Times.
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