US halts border crossing after migrants protest in Mexico
Los Angeles: The US border patrol has suspended all traffic at a busy crossing between San Diego, California and Mexico’s Tijuana, where thousands of migrants are massing in a makeshift shelter to apply for asylum.
The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency in San Diego said in a series of tweets on Sunday that traffic and pedestrian crossings in both directions were suspended at the San Ysidro port of entry, Xinhua news agency reported.
At least 1,800 Central American migrants, mainly from Honduras, have arrived in groups in the Mexican border city of Tijuana last week, and more are expected to come, authorities said.
On Sunday, police in Tijuana reportedly broke up a protest of migrants, setting up chaotic scenes of protesters running in different directions.
However, the CBP tweets did not confirm reports that migrants had pushed through a blockade trying to cross the border post.
The incident came hours after US President Donald Trump renewed threats that the United States would close the US-Mexico border “if for any reason it becomes necessary”.
“Migrants at the Southern Border will not be allowed into the United States until their claims are individually approved in court,” he tweeted on Saturday evening. “All will stay in Mexico.”
The tweets came after The Washington Post reported earlier on the day that Mexico’s incoming government has agreed to support the US government’s plan to remake US asylum policy.
However, Mexico’s incoming Interior Minister Olga Sanchez Cordero, who will take office next month, denied any type of agreements between the two sides in a statement on Saturday.