Central American migrants breach US border
Frustrated, exhausted migrants hope the illegal entry will allow them to apply for asylum
Tijuana:centralamericanmigrants stuck on the threshold of the United States in Mexico breached the border fenceonmonday,riskingalmostcertain detentionbyusauthoritiesbuthoping the illegal entry will allow them to apply for asylum.
Sincemid-october,thousandsofcentral Americans, mostly from Honduras, have travellednorththroughmexicotowardsthe United States in a caravan, some walking much of the long trek.
Uspresidentdonaldtrumphasvowed tostopthemigrantsentering,sendingtroops to reinforce the border and attempting a procedural change, so far denied by the courts,torequireasylum-seekerstoremain in Mexico while their cases are heard.
Frustrated and exhausted after weeks of uncertainty, many of the migrants have become desperate since getting stuck in squalid camps in the Mexican border city of Tijuana.
So a number opted to eschew legal procedures and attempt an illegal entry from Tijuana as dusk fell on Monday at a spot about 450 metres away from the PACIIC OCEAN.
In less than an hour, reporters observed roughly two dozen people climb the approximately 3-metre fence made of thick sheets and pillars of metal. They chose a place in a large overgrown ditch where the fence is slightly lower.
Just BEFORE Dusk, THREE thin people squeezed through the fence on the beach and were quickly picked up by the US Border Patrol, witnesses said.
But along the border inland as darkness descended, more and more migrants followed, many bringing children.
Some used a blanket as a rope to help loved ones get over.
A mother and her children made it over THE irst FENCE AND DISAPPEARED Into the night. The sight of them climbing the fenceencouragedothers,evenasahelicopter patrolled overhead on the US side.
Earlier, Karen Mayeni, a 29-year-old Honduran,sizedupthefencewhileclinging to her three children, aged six, 11 and 12.
“We’re just observing, waiting to see what happens,” Mayeni said.
“We’ll igure out what to Do In A Couple of days.” Ninety minutes later, she and her family were over the fence.
A number of the migrants ran to try to escape capture, but most of them walked slowly to WHERE US Border Patrol oficials were WAITING under loodlights to HAND themselves in.
Some of the migrants are likely to be economicrefugeeswithoutastrongasylum claim, but others tell stories of receiving politically motivated death threats in a region troubled by decades of instability and violence.