Recalling the confrontation between migrants and border officials at the US-Mexico border over the weekend, Aly Wane, a Steering Committee member with the Syracuse Peace Council, told Sputnik that the clash is the \u00ab\u00a0culmination of brutal policies\u00a0\u00bb that have been in place for years.<\/b>
\nThe San Ysidro Port of Entry at the US-Mexico border was closed for several hours on Sunday after Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents opted to deploy tear gas in an effort to disperse migrants wanting to gain entry.
Photos taken of the incident show dozens of individuals screaming as they run away from the area. Pictured in a now-viral image is a mother sprinting away from the tear gas bombs, with two young, barefooted children in hand.
The CBP has responded to the growing outage, explaining that officials detonated tear gas bombs in order to keep their agents safe from migrant crowds. \u00ab\u00a0Several agents were hit by the projectiles,\u00a0\u00bb the agency said on Twitter.
Wane told Radio Sputnik’s By Any Means Necessary on Monday that \u00ab\u00a0it’s been like a slow-moving accident for many, many years, and we’re seeing the culmination of brutal policies.\u00a0\u00bb
\u00ab\u00a0We’re dealing with folks who’ve already been traumatized by what they have encountered in their march toward this country, and many of them are fleeing countries that the US intervened in,\u00a0\u00bb Wane told hosts Eugene Puryear and Sean Blackmon, referring to the thousands of Honduran migrants fleeing circumstances caused by the US-supported 2009 coup in their home country.
\u00ab\u00a0What’s kind of striking to me\u2026 is some of the visual and rhetorical parallels between what we’re seeing at the border right now and what we often see happen in Israel with the Palestinians.\u00a0\u00bb
Speaking on the Democratic Party’s response to immigration matters, Wane explained that the so-called liberal side of the aisle needs to step up their game and not simply act on the topic by stating that they’re going to fight for beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and for temporary protected status for asylum seekers.
\u00ab\u00a0That’s where, in many ways, the Republicans have owned the framing of this issue, because they have framed this issue as a national security issue,\u00a0\u00bb Wane said. \u00ab\u00a0And so Democrats\u2026 most of what they have been able to offer to people is basically, \u2018Yes, we agree to be tough on the border and enforcement, but here are a few exceptional immigrants that we are willing to fight for.'\u00a0\u00bb
\u00ab\u00a0[Democrats are] basically feeding the point that the immigration issue is a national security issue and, in a low-key way, kind of agreeing that immigrants are potential criminals and potential terrorists\u2026 They haven’t really been able to frame the issue as a human rights issue,\u00a0\u00bb he added.
US President Donald Trump recently commented on the tear gas deployment, telling reporters on Monday that migrants forced the hand of the CBP.
\u00ab\u00a0They had to use [tear gas] because they were being rushed by some very tough people,\u00a0\u00bb he said. \u00ab\u00a0Here’s the bottom line\u2026 no one is coming into our country unless they come in legally.\u00a0\u00bb
Trump previously indicated that the \u00ab\u00a0whole\u00a0\u00bb of the US southern border may close, should the Mexican government not be able to get control of the migrant caravan situation.<\/p>\n