US used tear gas on hundreds of migrants who tried to enter the US illegally Sunday, prompting officials to shut down operations at the border crossing between Tijuana and San Diego. https://t.co/TohT95KART
— NBC News (@NBCNews) November 26, 2018
Yesterday, U.S. border agents used teargas on migrants approaching the border in Tijuana; according to U.S. authorities, rocks were thrown at agents. The morning after the unrest, President Trump fanned the flames with his pro forma provocation:
Mexico should move the flag waving Migrants, many of whom are stone cold criminals, back to their countries. Do it by plane, do it by bus, do it anyway you want, but they are NOT coming into the U.S.A. We will close the Border permanently if need be. Congress, fund the WALL!
Trump does not have the legal authority to unilaterally close the border, and immigrants have the right to seek asylum under U.S. law. But Trump is likely itching for a legal fight; here’s Greg Sargent in the Washington Post on how Trump might test the scope of the Supreme Court’s ruling on the travel ban.
Among those who had teargas shot at them were small children, including toddlers; disturbing photographs have rapidly circulated of children choking or running from teargas.
Tom Perez, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, made the following statement on social media:
Shooting tear gas at children is not who we are as Americans. Seeking asylum is not a crime. We must be better than this.
And here’s newly elected California Gov. Gavin Newsom:
These children are barefoot. In diapers. Choking on tear gas. Women and children who left their lives behind — seeking peace and asylum — were met with violence and fear. That’s not my America. We’re a land of refuge. Of hope. Of freedom. And we will not stand for this.
This is a complicated humanitarian crisis with no easy answers — and a highly volatile situation with the safety of children and families fleeing desperate situations at stake. For Trump, it’s merely a political opportunity to gin up his base.