President Trump has threatened to permanently close the U.S. border after hundreds of migrant caravan members–mostly men–attempted to storm the U.S. border between Tijuana, Mexico and San Diego on Sunday.
“Mexico should remove the flag waving migrants, many of whom are stone cold criminals, back to their countries,” he wrote on Twitter this morning. “Do it by plane, do it by bus, do it any way you want, but they are NOT coming into the U.S.A. We will close the border permanently if need be. Congress, fund the WALL!”
Mexico should move the flag waving Migrants, many of whom are stone cold criminals, back to their countries. Do it by plane, do it by bus, do it anyway you want, but they are NOT coming into the U.S.A. We will close the Border permanently if need be. Congress, fund the WALL!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 26, 2018
The attempts to storm the border prompted U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents to temporarily close the San Ysidro Port of Entry, according to Fox News.
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen reported that some of the migrants “sought to harm CBP personnel” by hurling projectiles at them.
“As I have continually stated, DHS will not tolerate this type of lawlessness and will not hesitate to shut down ports of entry for security and public safety reasons,” Nielsen said. “We will also seek to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law anyone who destroys federal property, endangers our frontline operators, or violates our nation’s sovereignty.”
Most of the group that attempted to rush the border dispersed within an hour.
On Friday, the mayor of Tijuana announced a humanitarian crisis and said he was asking the United Nations for assistance for the almost 5,000 migrants who have camped in the city since their arrival from Central America.
WATCH: Hundreds of migrants storm the American border.
The migrants threw rocks and projectiles at American border patrol and military.
You do not have a country without sovereign borders.
This is the definition of an invasion. https://t.co/5GVS9vhkGE
(Via @emmamurphyitv) pic.twitter.com/oNH6n62Lsc
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) November 25, 2018
Last Monday, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol received reports of caravan members attempting to “rush” the port of entry, and released the following statement:
In the early morning hours, CBP officials received reports of groups of persons from the caravan gathering in the city of Tijuana for a possible attempt or attempts to rush illegally through the port of entry instead of presenting themselves as required to a CBP officer. CBP officials suspended operations to safely place impediments at the port of entry that would restrict access to a large group attempting to run through the border crossing. After the CBP response at San Ysidro, no activity materialized at the border crossing.
Chief of Staff John Kelly signed a cabinet order last week which enables troops to take on law enforcement roles as well as use lethal force when needed while deployed at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Kelly stated in the order that the additional directives were necessary because “credible evidence and intelligence” that members of the migrant caravan currently in Tijuana “may prompt incidents of violence and disorder” which could threaten border officials.
