U.S. agents fired tear gas at a group of migrants attempting to breach a fence along the U.S.—Mexico border on Sunday, according to published reports.
The group was comprised of mostly men who tried to breach the crossing between Tijuana and California, reports state.
“Children were screaming and coughing in the mayhem,” the Associated Press reported.
Honduran migrant Ana Zuniga, 23, told the news outlet she saw 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 said as she carried her 3-year-old daughter Valery in her arms, the Associated Press reported.
Milenio TV in Mexico also showed images of migrants at the border attempting to jump over the fence. In contrast, shoppers strolled in and out of an outlet mall on the U.S. side.
Earlier in the day, U.S. Border Patrol helicopters flew low overhead while other agents patrolled by foot along a wire fence separating the two countries. The Border Patrol office in San Diego wrote on Twitter that pedestrian crossings were suspended at the San Ysidro port of entry at both the East and West facilities.
President Donald Trump posted on yet another warning on Twitter about the caravans in Mexico that are attempting to cross the U.S. border.
On Friday, Tijuana Mayor Juan Manuel Gastelum said his city of 1.6 million is facing a humanitarian crisis as it struggles to accommodate thousands of migrants.
Trump has said the caravan is attempting to impose an invasion on the U.S. He also has suggested terrorists could be travelling within the group. Published reports have previously stated that about 5,000 military personnel are at the border in anticipation of the caravan’s arrival.
Some of the photos on social media included:
