The discord at San Ysidro stems, in part, from confusion over what legal status, if any, migrants are entitled to from the Trump administration.
Tear gas and the temporary closing of the San Ysidro border crossing in Southern California marked an early confrontation between a caravan of migrants desperate to enter the United States and the governments of America and Mexico trying to hold them back.
And as more members of migrant caravans arrive just south of the border in Tijuana each day, neither side of the conflict appears willing to back down.
The current discord at San Ysidro stems, in part, from confusion over what kind of legal status, if any, the migrants are entitled to from an administration moving quickly to limit options.
The caravan from Central America rushed the border after President Trump vowed to make asylum applicants wait in Mexico while their cases are considered to prevent what he called a “costly and dangerous situation.”
But applying for asylum is often a yearslong process. And the administration’s plan to require people seeking asylum to first enter the United States through “ports of entry” has been blocked in federal court.
The result is a state of chaos with no clear end in sight.
The first members of the caravan arrived at the southwestern border earlier this month to find about 3,000 people already waiting to be processed into the United States — the product of a Trump administration initiative known as “metering.” The policy limits the number of people who can apply for asylum in a single day.
As a result, newcomers are finding that they will have to wait up to months before they can even begin the lengthy asylum process. That has led to rising tensions among the many people who are holed up.
Additionally, the “port of entry” at San Ysidro has been shut down at least twice in the past week after members of the caravan tried to approach the crossing anyway, according to United States Customs and Border Protection officials.
Four distinct caravans, with as many as 10,000 total members, have set out for the United States, according to Alex Mensing, a project coordinator with Pueblo Sin Fronteras, a transnational group that organized the migrant caravan that captured Mr. Trump’s attention last spring.
But the groups have splintered and shape-shifted in the face of grueling travel, government opposition and the opportunity to seek asylum in places other than the United States.
