Mexico has pledged to increase security near its border crossings and said it will deport some of the 500 asylum seekers who attempted to breach the United States border.
Those who tried to “violently” and “illegally” enter the US would be deported immediately, the Mexican interior ministry said on Sunday.
“We are going to act and proceed to their deportation,” Mexico’s Interior Minister Alfonso Navarrete told the Milenio television network. “Far from helping the caravan, they are hurting it.”
A peaceful march in Tijuana devolved into chaos on Sunday when US border agents fired tear gas into Mexico to stop some of the hundreds of migrants and refugees who tried to breach the border.
The US closed the San Ysidro crossing point between Tijuana, Mexico and San Diego, California for several hours in response.
Secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Kirstjen Nielsen later issued a statement accusing the migrants of seeking to harm border patrol personnel “by throwing projectiles at them”.
“As I have continually stated, DHS will not tolerate this type of lawlessness and will not hesitate to shut down ports of entry for security and public safety reasons,” she said, adding the US would “seek to prosecute” offenders.
Tijuana’s municipal government said that more than three dozen migrants were arrested for disturbing the peace and other charges related to the march and what followed.
Videos posted on Twitter showed large numbers of migrants dashing across a shallow concrete waterway towards the border.
Milenio TV showed images of migrants climbing over fences and peeling back metal sheeting in an attempt to enter the US.
More than 5,000 migrants and refugees have gathered in Tijuana in the past week with the hope of entering the US.
Mostly from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, they have arrived near the Mexico-US border via a caravan that has been dubbed “the Central American exodus”. Many say they are fleeing violence and poverty in Honduras.
In order to enter the US legally, migrants must apply for asylum, but the process can last for up to a year.
Rights groups have accused the US government of stalling the processing of asylum claims, allegations the US Customs and Border Protection denies.
Meanwhile, Mexico’s incoming government has denied reports that it has agreed to allow asylum seekers to wait in the country while their claims move through US immigration courts.
SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies
