Migrant caravan: White House says ‘no one wants to use tear gas on women and children’
Trump has urged Mexico to deport those in their country seeking asylum in US
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More than 5,000 Central American migrants in Tijuana, Mexico wait for their applications for asylum to be processed as Donald Trump continues to crack down on their entry into the US.
Speaking at a roundtable with supporters in Mississippi, Mr Trump claimed the tear gas used against asylum seekers was “very safe”.
The US president went on to say that some of the women pictured with the tear gas are not really parents but are instead “grabbers” who steal children to have a better chance of being granted asylum. He cited no evidence to back-up his claim.
However, a partial government shutdown looms. Congress has just 11 days to pass a spending bill which would fund, among other agencies, the border-policing Department of Homeland Security.
Mr Trump has been threatening to bring the $312bn bill to a standstill over his border wall proposal.
Democrats have accused him of putting at risk the one function of government he wants to shore up with the wall - all for the sake of saving face on his campaign promise.
The president's supporters say his base will understand the stance because he is putting "America First".
Mr Ebrard was speaking to reporters during a news conference in Mexico City. Named after General George Marshall, the Marshall Plan was a US-backed aid scheme to rebuild Western Europe after the devastation of the Second World War.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will be meeting with Mr Ebrard, who will officially take office on 1 December as President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador, also known by the acronym Amlo is sworn into office.
He is already facing a dilemma about his proposal to issue work visas to the Central American migrants so they do not have to cross the border into the US.
With migrants feeling deflated after the tear gas clash, Mexico's National Human Rights Commission said it "reiterates that members of the caravans that cross our country should respect Mexican laws and not engage in actions that affect the communities they pass through."
"It is important to note that the fact the Mexican government protects their rights does not imply a free pass to break the law," the group said in a rare moment of less than full-throated support for the migrants.
A large part of the support issue is due to economics. For the six million people who live in the border region this could prove disastrous economically.
Mr Trump has repeatedly threatened to close the San Ysidro port of entry near San Diego, California, and Tiajuana, Mexico.
San Ysidro Chamber of Commerce on yesterday’s port of entry shutdown. pic.twitter.com/Xphgd4TkEt
— Maya Srikrishnan (@msrikris) November 27, 2018
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Meanwhile in Mexico, support for the migrants has been declining.
With migrants feeling deflated after the tear gas clash, Mexico's National Human Rights Commission said it "reiterates that members of the caravans that cross our country should respect Mexican laws and not engage in actions that affect the communities they pass through."
"It is important to note that the fact the Mexican government protects their rights does not imply a free pass to break the law," the group said in a rare moment of less than full-throated support for the migrants.
A new poll released by one of the country's largest newspapers, El Universal, stated 70 per cent of Mexicans had some sort of negative view about the migrant caravan.
Just about half supported blocking the migrants' entry into Mexico, which with this latest caravan was via a crossing point on the Suchiate River bordering Guatemala.
Around 55 per cent supported the Mexican government taking harsher measures to prevent future caravans.
President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador, also known by the acronym Amlo, takes office on 1 December and is already facing a dilemma about his proposal to issue work visas to the Central American migrants so they do not have to cross the border into the US.
The El Universal poll showed 52 per cent supported the idea while 40 per cent opposed it.
United Nations officials have repeatedly urged Washington to ensure asylum seekers are protected as Mr Trump said yesterday on Twitter how Mexico should deport those in their country seeking protection in the US from the rampant gang violence in their Central American countries.
After Trump signed an order limiting asylum rights earlier this month - which was overruled by a federal court - the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said the US must make sure anyone fleeing violence or persecution can get protection "without obstruction".
UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch, asked on Tuesday about U.S. forces firing tear gas at migrants, told a Geneva news briefing:
"We are following those reports with concern, we are still trying to understand what transpired there."
Border management is "a sovereign prerogative of national governments", but border security and international protection for refugees are not mutually exclusive, he said.
"It means that any person whose life is at risk in their country of origin must be able to access territory and request asylum in a safe country. And each asylum request should be considered individually," Mr Baloch said.
"We have been repeating our call on the U.S. authorities to grant access to the territory and to asylum procedure to those who are fleeing persecution and violence".
Amid the nearly global criticism of the administration's family separation policy earlier this year, immigration authorities announced it would open a centre in rural Tornillo, Texas for children crossing the border alone.
The children, mostly in their teens, usually migrate in order to meet family members already in the US.
What was supposed to be a temporary shelter for approximately 360 children, the facility has ballooned to a full-blown detention camp now housing 2,349 largely Central American boys and girls between the ages of 13 and 17.
These children were not separated from their families at the border, at least not by US authorities. However, the current administration's policies have resulted in 14,000 children like them being held in these facilities around the country as they wait to join family members in the US.
The administration has not given a timeline for when they will be allowed to leave the facilities. The administration has claimed in the past it is holding them there in order to combat human trafficking.
White House advisor Kellyanne Conway has followed Mr Trump's cue and once again hit out at the media.
Ms Conway told the Fox News the so-called "mainstream" media were not portraying the group of migrants who charged the San Ysidro border patrol accurately - they were "just go[ing] for optics".
“There are violent elements in the caravan. The mainstream media only wants you to see the children, the families. They're not telling you that most of the caravan are males traveling by themselves, that of course projectiles and rocks were thrown at our brave men and women at the border," she claimed.
Department of Homeland Security chief Kirstjen Nielsen also wrote in a Facebook post the use of tear gas on migrants over the weekend at the San Ysidro port was being mischaracterised.
"The limited number of women and children in the caravan are being used by the organizers as “human shields” when they confront law enforcement," she wrote about the "predominately male" caravan.
Ms Nielsen wrote "the violence we saw at the border was entirely predictable. This caravan, unlike previous caravans, had already entered Mexico violently and attacked border police in two other countries," likely referring to Guatemala and upon entry into Mexico.
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