US authorities have re-opened the San Ysidro port of entry into Mexico after briefly closing it following an attempt by hundreds of migrants to breach a fence, the Customs and Border Protection agency said Sunday.
It announced the crossing was re-opened in a series of tweets, saying that first pedestrian access was resumed, followed by vehicle traffic.
US border agents fired tear gas on hundreds of migrants protesting near the border with Mexico on Sunday after some of them attempted to get through the fencing and wire separating the two countries, and American authorities shut down border crossings from the city where thousands are waiting to apply for asylum.
The situation devolved after the group began a peaceful march to appeal for the US to speed processing of asylum claims for Central American migrants marooned in Tijuana.
Mexican police had kept them from walking over a bridge leading to the Mexican port of entry, but the migrants pushed past officers to walk across the Tijuana River below the bridge. More police carrying plastic riot shields were on the other side, but migrants walked along the river to an area where only an earthen levee and concertina wire separated them from US Border Patrol agents.
Some saw an opportunity to breach the crossing.
An Associated Press reporter saw US agents shoot several rounds of tear gas after some migrants attempted to penetrate several points along the border. Mexicos Milenio TV showed images of migrants climbing over fences and peeling back metal sheeting to enter.
Honduran Ana Zuniga, 23, also said she saw migrants opening a small hole in concertina wire at a gap on the Mexican side of a levee, at which point US agents fired tear gas at them.
Children screamed and coughed. Fumes were carried by the wind toward people who were hundreds of feet away.
“We ran, but when you run the gas asphyxiates you more,” Zuniga told the AP while cradling her 3-year-old daughter Valery in her arms.
Mexicos Interior Ministry said around 500 migrants tried to “violently” enter the US.
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Last Update: Monday, 26 November 2018 KSA 07:18 – GMT 04:18
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