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.
Authorities closed the port of entry after the clash, and several tweets from US Customs and Border Protection said pedestrian and vehicle traffic was suspended. Officials from both the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection did not return request for comment.
MSNBC reported from the ground that “easily more than 1,000” migrants had become fed up with the condition of the shelter, and walked approximately half a mile to confront authorities with in-person asylum requests.
The report’s footage also captured several military drones above the crowd.
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.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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