U.S. Border Patrol agents fired tear gas at a group of migrants and shut down the border crossing after migrants attempted to break through the border fencing.

On Sunday, November 25, 2018, migrants began a calm march to push for the United States to process the asylum claims of the migrants that are waiting in Tijuana, Mexico. Following after the Mexican police secured the protesters from a bridge, the protesters walked along a riverbed.

Reporters saw the United States agents shoot rounds of tear gas at the migrants. The fumes were carried several hundred feet away. Photos of small children running from the gas spread across social media rapidly. Some of the migrants tried to go to a train border crossing, but they were pushed back after the rounds of tear gas were fired at them.

A dozen tear gas canisters were visible on the Mexican side of the United States-Mexico border after the migrants turned back, reported from the Times. More than 5,000 migrants have been camping around a sports center in Tijuana after traveling through Mexico in a caravan. While many are anticipating to apply for asylum, the border agents at the San Ysidro crossing have been handling less than 100 petitions each day. Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii responded,

”Tear gas across the border against unarmed families is a new low.”

Sources are used from the following sites:

https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2018-11-26/us-border-agents-fire-tear-gas-at-migrants-and-close-border

http://time.com/

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/25/world/americas/tijuana-mexico-border.html