Video: Migrants Breach Border Fence, Throw Rocks, Are Repelled by Border Patrol

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials closed a portion of the southern border with Mexico on Sunday, Nov. 25, and videos show them firing gas at a group of migrants who attempted to rush across before trying to breach a fence separating the two nations.

The road and pedestrian bridge point at the San Ysidro port of entry was shut down, according to the Border Patrol. The port connects Tijuana, Mexico, and San Diego, California.

Epoch Times journalist Charlotte Cuthbertson is on the scene in San Diego and provided several videos. She reported migrants broke through the fence and were repelled with pepper spray and smoke pellets while adding that migrants are trying to get through any gap possible in the border fence.  Some migrants could be seen throwing rocks, ostensibly at Border Patrol agents, in the video (around 1:15 in the video below).

Another video showed caravan migrants marching on a canal toward the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Associated Press reported that tear gas was fired at the migrants who attempted to breach the fence. Honduran migrant Ana Zuniga, 23, told the news agency that migrants were trying to open a small hole in concertina wire. Then, agents fired gas at them.

Some members of the caravan carried Honduran flags and yelled, “We are not criminals! We are international workers,” reported 10News in San Diego.

The Los Angeles Times reported that no migrants were able to get into the United States during Sunday’s incident.

The Border Patrol office in San Diego, meanwhile, tweeted on Sunday afternoon, “Pedestrian crossings at the San Ysidro port of entry are also suspended at both the East and West facility.”

“In addition, northbound vehicle traffic processing at San Ysidro is currently suspended. Updates will be provided as they become available,” it wrote. “Southbound lanes into Mexico at the San Ysidro port of entry are currently closed. Updates will be provided.”

More than 5,000 migrants have been camped in a sports stadium in Tijuana after heading through Mexico in recent weeks via a caravan, reports said.

A migrant family, part of a caravan of thousands traveling from Central America en route to the United States, run away from tear gas in front of the border wall between the U.S. and Mexico in Tijuana. (Reuters)

Tijuana Mayor Juan Manuel Gastelum on Nov. 23 said his city is facing a humanitarian crisis, saying officials are struggling to accommodate the mass of migrants.

U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted on Nov. 25 that the caravans should be stopped—preferably by Mexican officials.

“Would be very SMART if Mexico would stop the Caravans long before they get to our Southern Border, or if originating countries would not let them form (it is a way they get certain people out of their country and dump in U.S. No longer),” he wrote.

Former General Anthony Tata also noted that  “President Trump is a man of his word & he said he was going to be tough on the Border, and he is tough on the Border. He has rightfully strengthened the Border in the face of an unprecedented threat. It’s the right move by President Trump.” His comment drew praise from the president.

Mexico’s Interior Ministry said Sunday that the country has sent 11,000 Central Americans back to their home countries since Oct. 19, and of that number, 1,906 have come via the caravans.

Epoch Times reporter Charlotte Cuthbertson contributed to this report.