The U.S.-Mexico border at the San Ysidro Port of Entry was closed in both directions for more than five hours on Sunday after hundreds of migrants rushed the area, prompting federal authorities to launch tear gas in an apparent attempt to get the group to disperse.

Federal authorities said the migrants tried to breach the border at multiple locations, leading to a number of assaults on Customs and Border Protection personnel and dozens of arrests.

The chaos left pedestrians on both sides of the border stranded, snarled freeway traffic for miles and prompted the closure of a nearby outlet mall on one of the busiest shopping days of the season, all as helicopters circled in the sky.

The confrontations highlighted the escalating tensions along the border as thousands of migrants from Central America poured into Tijuana in recent weeks seeking U.S. asylum. President Trump has pushed to keep any migrants in Mexico as they await the immigration process.


1 / 18 U.S. Border Patrol deploy CS gas on migrants refusing to step away from the Concertina wire set up along the U.S. Mexico border near San Ysidro. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 2 / 18 One man makes a stand as U.S. Border Patrol deploy CS gas on migrants refusing to step away from the Concertina wire set up along the U.S. Mexico border. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 3 / 18 Migrants with the Central American caravan breach police line set up by the Mexico Federal Police, then access to the flood channel where they crossed to the north side of the flood channel. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 4 / 18 U.S. Border Patrol gives instructions to migrants near the U.S. Mexico border to step away. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 5 / 18 Migrants make it across the flood channel on Sunday and up to the bollard fence in San Ysidro. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 6 / 18 U.S. Border Patrol deploy CS gas on migrants refusing to step away from the Concertina wire set up along the U.S. Mexico border near San Ysidro. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 7 / 18 Migrants with the Central American migrant caravan breach the police line set up by the Mexico Federal Police and then access the flood channel where they crossed to the north side gaining access to the bollard fence behind the outlet shopping center in San Ysidro. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 8 / 18 Migrants left the temporary shelter set up at the Benito Juarez to take part in protest march heading for the U.S. Mexico border on Sunday. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 9 / 18 Migrants with the Central American migrant caravan breach the police line set up by the Mexico Federal Police and then accessed the flood channel where they crossed to the north side gaining access to the bollard fence behind the outlet shopping center in San Ysidro. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 10 / 18 Migrants with the Central American caravan breach police line set up by the Mexico Federal Police, then try to access the San Ysidro Port of Entry. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 11 / 18 Migrants make it across the flood channel on Sunday after the group breached the police line in Tijuana. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 12 / 18 U.S. Border Patrol prepare to deploy CS gas on migrants refusing to step away from the Concertina wire set up along the U.S. Mexico border. Earlier migrants from the Central America migrant caravan held a protest and eventually broke through the police line which led to access to the U.S. Mexico border fence in San Ysidro. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 13 / 18 U.S. Border Patrol observes migrants on the U.S. Mexico border near San Ysidro. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 14 / 18 U.S. Border Patrol deploy CS gas on migrants refusing to step away from the Concertina wire set up along the U.S. Mexico border. Earlier migrants from the Central America migrant caravan held a protest and eventually broke through the police line which led to access to the U.S. Mexico border fence in San Ysidro. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 15 / 18 U.S. Border Patrol looks on at migrants near the U.S. Mexico border near San Ysidro. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 16 / 18 Migrants with the Central American migrant caravan earlier breached the police line set up by the Mexico Federal Police and then accessed the flood channel where they crossed to the north side gaining access to the bollard fence behind the outlet shopping center in San Ysidro. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 17 / 18 Migrants with the Central American caravan breach the police line set up by the Mexico Federal Police and then access the flood channel where they crossed to the north side gaining access to the bollard fence behind the outlet shopping center in San Ysidro. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 18 / 18 Migrants with the Central American caravan breach police line set up by the Mexico Federal Police, then try to access the San Ysidro Port of Entry. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune)

Following Sunday’s events, the Mexican Interior Ministry announced it would deport about 500 migrants who tried to “violently” and “illegally” cross the border. A Mexican federal police officer told the Union-Tribune that authorities were reviewing videotape of the confrontations at the border and would be detaining and deporting those involved.

The statement added that Mexican authorities had contained the protest at the crossing between Tijuana and San Diego and that, despite heightened tensions there, Mexico would not send military forces to control the thousands of migrants from a caravan currently amassed at the U.S.-Mexico border.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials closed all vehicle and pedestrian crossings around 11:30 a.m. Sunday.


The pedestrian crossings were first to reopen about 3:45 p.m., followed by southbound freeway lanes and northbound vehicle processing lanes at 5 p.m.

The San Ysidro border crossing is one of the busiest ports of entry in the world, with more than 90,000 people crossing between San Diego and Tijuana on a daily basis. Two other ports of entry in Otay Mesa and Tecate remained open.

Hundreds of migrants began marching from their shelter at the Benito Juárez sports complex, an open-air sports arena turned makeshift shelter, to Mexico’s El Chaparral border crossing Sunday morning.


Around 11:20 a.m., members of the group clashed with Mexican federal police in riot gear before rushing into a concrete canal toward an area of the border near the San Ysidro pedestrian bridge.

Soon after, a group of about 50 people managed to run past police to a small hole in the border fence. A helicopter circled overhead as some in the group threw rocks at agents on the other side and pulled at the structure.

Federal officials said migrants attempted to enter the U.S. at multiple locations along the border as well as through freeway lanes at the port of entry.


During the altercations, migrants threw projectiles at Customs and Border Protection personnel and multiple agents were hit with rocks, federal officials said. Authorities also deployed pepper balls and tear gas canisters in an attempt to get people to disperse.

As the clashes intensified, people in Mexico fled for cover. After one instance, a mother was seen comforting her baby under a train, while covering the child’s face with a torn shirt to protect her from the tear gas.

Members of the caravan said at least two people appeared to be injured during Sunday’s events, including one child.

As the situation calmed, one women could be heard speaking through a bull horn to U.S. Border patrol agents on the other side saying, “We don’t want war, we don’t want killing...”


During the incident, Tijuana Municipal Police detained 39 people, including 15 Mexicans and 24 Hondurans. Two of the Hondurans were women. Police worked to escort the group at the border back to the Benito Juárez, the sports complex.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said on Twitter that federal officials will “prosecute to the fullest extent of the law anyone who destroys federal property, endangers our frontline operators, or violates our sovereignty.”

Tijuana Mayor Juan Manuel Gastelum also took to Twitter to address the incident saying, “We will not allow our binational relationship to be broken by the bad behavior of the migrant caravan.”

He added that Tijuana residents who “work, study and visit the United States in peace” were affected by the closure.


The San Ysidro port of entry was blocked by Customs and Border Protection and Department of Homeland Security agents midday Sunday. This is a view from the overpass at Camino de La Plaza looking north at Interstate 5 and Interstate 805 lanes.. (JOHN GASTALDO)

Customs and Border Protection had deployed additional personnel to the border due to multiple planned protests on both sides including CBP officers, U.S. Border Patrol agents and Air and Marine agents recently sent to the region.

San Diego police also readied on-duty officers Sunday afternoon to respond to the border if needed.


After the closure, lines of people who expected to cross into Mexico were clustered on a corner of Camino De La Plaza.

One Tijuana resident who had crossed to shop at the Las Americas Outlet Mall said she had seen the group of migrants moving toward the border on her way to the mall that morning.

The mall was later closed.


Though the woman worried about getting home, she said she felt compassion for the caravan, and had visited the sports complex to bring donations and talk with the migrants.

She said she met a woman whose suitcase had been stolen on the journey and whose child had only a sweater to wear. She said she bought the migrant family some clothes that said “I love Tijuana” as a way to apologize to the mother for the way her city had treated the asylum seeker.

“There’s a strong sense of depression,” the woman said. “I always ask myself, if they tolerate being here, being cold, sick and hungry, how must it be in their country?”

The woman did not give her name because there are some in Tijuana who are angry with the caravan and those who sympathize with them.


The closure created a traffic nightmare, as a number of freeways in the area including stretches of Interstate 805, state Route 905, and Interstate 5 were closed. At one point, traffic on southbound Interstate 805 was backed up more than eight miles, from the U.S. border all the way past Plaza Boulevard in National City.

Public transit was also snarled.

The Metropolitan Transit System suspended Blue Line Trolley service at San Ysidro Transit Center until the pedestrian crossings were reopened. MTS also halted service to the Virginia Transit Center. A temporary stop was set up outside the transit station on Camino De La Plaza.

More than 5,000 Central American migrants have been camped out in muddy and cramped conditions at the makeshift shelter. Mexican authorities estimate an additional 1,669 migrants are trekking toward Baja California from the Mexican states of Jalisco, Nayarit and Sinaloa.


Tijuana municipal authorities have said they are not equipped to handle the growing group. Human rights groups working with Mexico’s federal government promised to improve the conditions inside the shelters, where many have fallen ill.

As migrants passed through the bustling border city, Mexican federal police and Edgar Corzo Sosa, an official with the National Human Rights Commission, have tried convincing them to turn around. Officials also urged the group to apply for workers visas in Mexico, claiming thousands of jobs were available in Tijuana.

The migrants have been trying to present themselves to United States immigration authorities for asylum, but the U.S. only processes 100 asylum applications a day, a system that has slowed in recent months, leaving thousands on the waiting list.

Those applications are processed at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, not the pedestrian bridge where migrants said they planned to cross and where hundreds of migrants ran to on Sunday.


On Thursday, President Donald Trump threatened to completely shut down the border, and the $1.6 billion daily trading relationship with Mexico. He also authorized military forces to use lethal force “if necessary” to defend border agents from migrants attempting to cross into the U.S.

A Department of Homeland Security official said Monday there are an estimated 500 criminals traveling in the caravan. Local authorities in Baja California have detained 57 migrants of which 47 are Hondurans. They were taken into custody on suspicion of public disorderly conduct. Of those detained by local police, 42 of those migrants are now in deportation proceedings in Mexico, according to local police.

Staff Writer Kate Morrissey contributed to this report.


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