Authorities clashed with members of a migrant caravan after a group estimated to be in the hundreds stormed a US port of entry, according to video and photos posted to social media from journalists on the ground.
The migrants left a makeshift shelter in Tijuana to head for San Ysidro, the largest port of entry on the southern US border. It has been reported nearly 5,000 migrants from the Central American caravan were being held in the Mexican city.
After police blocked a bridge, migrants crossed the Tijuana River on foot before approaching the port.
A CBP spokesperson said officials had suspended northbound and southbound vehicle and pedestrian crossings.Officials from the Department of Homeland Security did not return requests for comment.
US Border Patrol then reportedly launched tear gas toward the Mexican side of the border, which Associated Press correspondent Chris Sherman tweeted carried for hundreds of yards.
Ana Zuniga, a 23-year-old from Honduras was carrying her 3-year old daughter.
“We ran but when you run the smoke smothers you more,” she told Sherman, who also tweeted that she saw US agents launching gas when migrants made a hole in a barrier’s barbed wire.
MSNBC reported from the ground that the migrants had planned a demonstration after becoming fed up with the condition of the shelter, and walked approximately half a mile to confront authorities with in-person asylum requests.
The footage also captured several military drones above the crowd, in addition to what were reportedly US helicopters.
The confrontation comes a day after President Donald Trump tweeted that the United States will no longer allow asylum-seekers to enter the country until their claims are approved by a judge.
“Migrants at the Southern Border will not be allowed into the United States until their claims are individually approved in court,” he tweeted, adding that “we only will allow those who come into our Country legally,” though asylum-seekers often do legally enter the country at ports of entry before requesting asylum.
Trump previously signed an executive order barring asylum for migrants who cross the border illegally, though US immigration law explicitly permits migrants to request asylum no matter how they entered the country.
A federal judge blocked Trump’s asylum ban earlier this week, arguing that Trump “may not rewrite the immigration laws to impose a condition that Congress has expressly forbidden.”
The White House did not return a request for comment.
Michelle Mark contributed reporting.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
