Trump is retaliating against asylum seekers because of a judge's order temporarily denying him the right to deny asylum to people who don't enter the US at official ports of entry - and Chief Justice Roberts daring to chastise him for his comments about it.
First, he insists they come to a port of entry, and yet, when they have done so, he used tear gas on them!
According to several journalists in Tijuana, US authorities used tear gas on migrants and refugees, including children, who approached the border fence near the El Chaparral crossing. A small group breached the border, local media reported.
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US Customs and Border Protection temporarily closed all vehicle and pedestrian traffic at the major San Ysidro port of entry between Tijuana, Mexico and San Diego, California on Sunday.
The agency made the announcement as hundreds of migrants and refugees marched towards the border in an attempt to put pressure on the US government to allow thousands of asylum seekers to enter the United States.
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More than 5,000 migrants and refugees have been cramped into a Tijuana stadium complex that is more than 2,000 people over capacity.
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The port of entry remained closed for about six hours before being re-opened.
The developments on Sunday come as frustration grows in Tijuana over the slow processing of asylum claims by US authorities.
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Prior to the border closure, hundreds gathered in San Diego to march in solidarity with the migrants and refugees in Tijuana.
The group, which included a collection of different rights organisations, accused the Trump administration of creating a "war-like atmosphere" against the Central American exodus in Mexico.
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Paul Ross, 74, who served in the Vietnam War, said he felt compelled to come to the border and make his voice heard.
"Latin America has had one dictator after the other," Ross told Al Jazeera. "Almost all of which have had support from the United States, in the beginning, to work towards regime change. The poverty and problems they have there now, have a history which we have to understand."
While holding a flag with Veterans for Peace written on it in combination with a logo with a flying dove, Ross told Al Jazeera he believed the current exodus of Central Americans is a result of the involvement of the US in affairs in these countries.
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Holding banners that read "immigrants are welcome" and "money for jobs, not walls", more than 200 people marched towards the San Ysidro port of entry.
alJazeera
And he's bought off President-elect AMLO. This is a big surprise to me. AMLO was supposed to be the left-leaning candidate.
I don't believe that for a minute.The Trump administration has won the support of Mexico’s incoming government for a plan to remake U.S. border policy by requiring asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their claims move through U.S. courts, according to Mexican officials and senior members of President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s transition team.
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Earlier in the day, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said in a statement that “President Trump has developed a strong relationship with the incoming Lopez Obrador Administration, and we look forward to working with them on a wide range of issues.”
The agreement would break with long-standing asylum rules and place a formidable barrier in the path of Central American migrants attempting to reach the United States and escape poverty and violence. By reaching the accord, the Trump administration has also overcome Mexico’s historic reticence to deepen cooperation with the United States on an issue widely seen here as America’s problem.
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“For now, we have agreed to this policy of Remain in Mexico,” said Olga Sánchez Cordero, Mexico’s incoming interior minister, the top domestic policy official for López Obrador, who takes office Dec. 1. In an interview with The Washington Post, she called it a “short-term solution.”
“The medium- and long-term solution is that people don’t migrate,” Sánchez Cordero said. “Mexico has open arms and everything, but imagine one caravan after another after another. That would also be a problem for us.”
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President Trump briefly described the arrangement in a pair of tweets Saturday evening. “Migrants at the Southern Border will not be allowed into the United States until their claims are individually approved in court,” Trump wrote. “No ‘Releasing’ into the U.S....All will stay in Mexico.”
The president then issued a threat. “If for any reason it becomes necessary, we will CLOSE our Southern Border. There is no way that the United States will, after decades of abuse, put up with this costly and dangerous situation anymore!” Trump wrote.
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The prospect of keeping thousands of Central American asylum seekers for months or years in drug cartel-dominated Mexican border states — some of the most violent in the country — has troubled human rights activists and others who worry that such a plan could put migrants at risk and undermine their lawful right to apply for asylum.
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U.S. officials involved in the talks said Mexico has not asked for financial assistance to implement the procedures, which could result in significant costs if asylum seekers are made to wait for months or years. They described the deal as a collaboration, and senior officials from both governments insisted it was not imposed upon Mexico.
WaPo
What on earth could AMLO possibly be getting to make this an attractive deal for Mexico?On Saturday, Nick Miroff and Joshua Partlow of the Washington Post reported that the Donald Trump administration had made a deal with the incoming president of Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, to implement a “Remain in Mexico” policy.
The incoming Mexican administration released a statement Saturday night that looked like a denial of the Washington Post story — but didn’t actually contradict that a deal was being discussed, or even that they’re close to finalizing one.
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The statement said that “there is no agreement of any sort between the government-elect of Mexico and the government of the United States, as the next president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, will take office on December 1” — in other words, denying that the incoming government was already making official deals behind the outgoing government’s back.
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Under the agreement, as the Post describes it, asylum seekers who meet the credible-fear standard would also be asked about the prospects of staying in Mexico. If they couldn’t show a reasonable fear (a higher standard than credible fear) of staying in Mexico, they’d still be allowed to apply for asylum in the US, but they’d wait in Mexico until their case was completed.
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While the two countries are still hammering out the details, it appears that the biggest question — whether Mexico would cooperate — has now been settled.
Vox
US Customs and Border Protection said the migrants threw projectiles that struck several agents.
"Border Patrol agents deployed tear gas to dispel the group because of the risk to agents' safety," the agency said on Twitter.
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About 500 migrants on the Mexican side of the border overwhelmed police blockades near the San Ysidro Port of Entry Sunday afternoon, two journalists at the scene in Tijuana told CNN.
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Tijuana police arrested 39 people in connection with the attempt to cross the border illegally, the agency said in a statement on Facebook.
It said they would be reported to Mexican immigration authorities.
Mexico's Interior Ministry earlier said those identified as having tried to cross would be processed for deportation to their home countries.
CNN
On Friday, Tijuana’s mayor, Juan Manuel Gastélum, declared a humanitarian crisis in his city of 1.6 million, which he said was struggling to accommodate the migrants.
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On Sunday, several hundred people, mostly men, pushed past a blockade of Mexican police near the crossing. They carried hand-painted US and Honduran flags and chanted: “We are not criminals! We are international workers!”
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Some migrants called on each other to remain peaceful. They appeared to pass easily through the police blockade without using violence. A second line of police carrying plastic riot shields stood guard outside a Mexican customs and immigration plaza. That line of police installed tall steel panels on the Mexican side of the border, completely blocking incoming traffic lanes.
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Honduran Ana Zúñiga, 23, said she saw migrants open a small hole in concertina wire at a gap on the Mexican side of a levee, at which point US agents fired teargas at them.
“We ran but when you run the gas asphyxiates you more,” she said, holding her three-year-old daughter, Valery.
Guardian
And is Mexico not complaining that the US is firing tear gas across the border?*
UPDATE:
JESUS FUCKING Christ!
*UPDATE 11/27:
Mexico’s foreign ministry presented a diplomatic note to the U.S. government on Monday calling for “a full investigation” into what it described as non-lethal weapons directed toward Mexican territory on Sunday, a statement from the ministry said.
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