TIJUANA, Mexico – Hundreds of migrants approaching the U. S. border from Mexico were enveloped with tear gas Sunday after several tried to make it…
TIJUANA, Mexico – Hundreds of migrants approaching the U. S. border from Mexico were enveloped with tear gas Sunday after several tried to make it past fencing and wire separating the two countries.
Earlier in the morning, a group of Central Americans staged a peaceful march to appeal for the U. S. to speed up the asylum claims process, but their demonstration devolved as they neared the crossing with the U. S. and some saw an opportunity to breach the border.
U. S. agents shot several rounds of gas, according to an Associated Press reporter on the scene, after migrants attempted to penetrate several points along the border. Migrants sought to squeeze through gaps in wire, climb over fences and peel back metal sheeting to enter.
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Children screamed and coughed in the mayhem of the tear gas. Fumes were carried by the wind toward people who were hundreds of feet away, not attempting to enter the U. S.
Yards away on the U. S. side, shoppers streamed in and out of an outlet mall.
Honduran Ana Zuniga, 23, said she saw other migrants open a small hole in concertina wire at a gap on the Mexican side of a levee, at which point U. S. agents fired tear gas at them.
“We ran, but when you run the gas asphyxiates you more,” she told the AP while cradling her 3-year-old daughter Valery in her arms.
