Migrant caravan: Mexico calls for 'full investigation' into use of tear gas as Trump defends action
Almost 100 Central American migrants have been deported
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A day after the US shutdown a port of entry on its southwestern border and shot tear gas and pepper spray into crowds of migrants to stop them from crossing illegally, Donald Trump has said Mexico should deport them back to their home countries.
Many of the approximately 5,000 migrants camped out in Tijuana, Mexico, are attempting to enter the US through the San Ysidro port near San Diego, California, in order to apply for asylum. US border agents are approving approximately 100 applications per day but tensions over the slow pace came to a head over the weekend.
Mr Trump - who also defended the use of tear gas - tweeted: "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!"
Later, Mexico's foreign ministry presented a diplomatic note to the US government calling for "a full investigation" into what it described as non-lethal weapons directed towards Mexican territory on Sunday, a statement from the ministry said.
The decision on Sunday to use tear gas among crowds that contained a large number of women and children, was condemned by high-profile Democrats. Beto O’Rourke, who narrowly failed in his bid for a senate seat in Texas, said it should “tell us something about her home country that a mother is willing to travel 2,000 miles with her four-month old son to come here”.
“Should tell us something about our country that we only respond to this desperate need once she is at our border,” he wrote online. “So far, in this administration, that response has included taking kids from their parents, locking them up in cages, and now tear gassing them at the border.”
New York congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez likened the Central American migrants to Jewish families fleeing Nazi Germany, declaring that applying for refugee status should not be considered a crime. Meanwhile, Gavin Newsom, recently elected as governor of California, from where the CBP agents fired the tear gas, tweeted a widely shared Reuters photograph of a woman with two young children running from a gas canister.
“These children are barefoot. In diapers. Choking on tear gas,” Mr Newsom wrote. “Women and children who left their lives behind - seeking peace and asylum - were met with violence and fear. That’s not my America. We’re a land of refuge. Of hope. Of freedom. And we will not stand for this."
If you want to see how developments unfolded read below
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For immigration reform to occur, some Washington watchers have said the president will want to discuss it with the US House now before control is handed over to Democrats in January.
Mexico now has a plan to beef up security on the Tijuana side of the US-Mexico border to help stem the flow of the migrant caravan.
Mexico's National Migration Institute has just said that 98 migrants were being deported after they taken part in a "violent" push on the US border amid the tear gas and pepper spray clash over the weekend.
Previous estimates had put that number closer to 500, while the US said nearly 1,000 people had been involved.
Mexican police, donning riot gear, have now lined up around the temporary shelter of the migrant caravan and instructed they are not allowed to walk near the border area unless authorised.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan says 69 migrants were arrested on the California side of the border after trying to cross from Tijuana to the US after the tear gas confrontation. The previous estimate was 42 people.
Mr McAleenan says the US Border Patrol's use of force policy allows agents to use tear gas, but the incident would be reviewed. He said the "dangerous situation" involving bottles and other projectiles was resolved without serious injury.
"As the events unfolded, quick, decisive and effective action prevented an extremely dangerous situation," he said.
With migrants feeling deflated after the tear gas clash, Mexico's National Human Rights Commission said it "reiterates that members of the caravans that cross our country should respect Mexican laws and not engage in actions that affect the communities they pass through."
"It is important to note that the fact the Mexican government protects their rights does not imply a free pass to break the law," the group said in a rare moment of less than full-throated support for the migrants.
New York Congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has compared the migrants being chased away with tear gas to when Jews attempted to flee Nazi Germany.
She wrote: “Asking to be considered a refugee and applying for status isn’t a crime. It wasn’t for Jewish families fleeing Germany".
Read more here:
The Hispanic Caucus, a group of US House members who are of Hispanic descent or who serve constituencies with a large population of Hispanics, has also issued a statement through its head, Congressman Joaquin Castro of Texas.
Mr Castro wrote that while immigration and asylum processes were never perfect, they were "orderly, humane" for several decades through presidents of both parties.
"Yet, the Trump administration has failed miserably," he wrote.
Here is footage released by US Customs and Border Patrol of the scene ahead of the tear gas incident.
Helicopters continue to patrol the border area to watch for any migrants who attempt to sneak through into the US.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan has justified the use of tear gas, which could mean migrants will face that situation again.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has said she will "aggressively support" what her agents choose to do to protect the US border.
The CBP has tweeted a link to Chief Patrol Agent Rodney Scott discussing the caravan on CNN earlier today:
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