On Nov. 25, US Border Patrol used tear gas and rubber bullets against hundreds of Central American migrants who were making their way to the border fence in Tijuana, Mexico. The migrant caravan started in Honduras and Guatemala and were coming to the US to seek asylum from the poverty and gang violence in their respective countries.
As the migrant caravan approached the border between San Jose and Tijuana, some of the migrants began throwing rocks at the border patrol officers. US border patrol agents fired rubber bullets and tear gas to stop about 500 of the migrants who were throwing rocks and trying to breach the US-Mexico border. From the 500 individuals, some included children, senior citizens, and pregnant women.
Maria Meza, a single mother of two, was at the border with her daughters when the tear gas was released. She said, “I was scared. I grabbed my daughters and ran… I thought my kids were going to die with me because of the gas we inhaled.” Meza along with several other mothers were photographed shielding their children and running away from the gas.
The tear gas situation at the US-Mexico border comes after the recent implementation of an executive order issued by President Trump. The order makes immigrants ineligible to apply for asylum if they arrive to the US without papers.
This executive order was put in place by Trump to override the old rule that let all asylum seekers, regardless of documentation, have an interview to see if their reasons for declaring asylum were valid. With the new order in place, asylum seekers who cross into the country without papers will be detained or deported.
For asylum seekers who do have their papers, the reviewing process is still open, but the amount of cases reviewed per day has decreased. Because of the decline of cases reviewed, it is estimated to take about six months to do the initial review for the migrants currently situated in Tijuana.
Along with the new order, Trump also authorized Defense Secretary, Jim Mattis, the ability to use military troops as protection for the Custom and Border Protection agents at the border, allowing the use of lethal force if needed.
The local mayor in Tijuana explained the situation at the border city as an ‘avalanche’ because of the increasing amounts of migrant caravans arriving to the city. Hundreds of locals in Tijuana have been protesting, calling the caravan an invasion into their home and wanting the migrants to leave their country.
President Trump voiced his support for the locals on Twitter. He said, “Mexico should move the flag waving Migrants, many of whom are stone cold criminals, back to their countries. Do it by plane, do it by bus, do it anyway you want, but they are NOT coming into the U.S.A. We will close the border permanently if need be. Congress, fund the WALL.”
