US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials used tear gas to disperse hundreds of migrants as they rushed the busiest border crossing between the US and Mexico yesterday.
The San Ysidro Port of Entry near San Diego, California, was completely closed down in both directions to foot and vehicle traffic, after around 500 migrants on the Mexican side of the border overwhelmed police blockades.
CBP said later on Twitter that several of the migrants, mostly from Central America, threw “sticks and other projectiles” at agents, prompting the use of tear gas “because of the risk to agents’ safety”.
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CNN reports that the tear gas “sent people running and screaming, including families with young children”.
US Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen said in a statement that a number of migrants who were turned away from the San Ysidro Port of Entry then attempted to enter the US by climbing over “legacy fence infrastructure”.
The New York Times says “at least two dozen tear gas canisters could be seen on the Mexican side of the border” once the migrants had been pushed back by CBP officers.
US officials say that 39 people have been arrested in connection with the incident, and that those who had attacked federal police would be deported.