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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Your support makes all the difference.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
There are actually American troops stationed along the US-Mexico border. US border patrol agents were the ones who the tear gas, however.
Approximately 300 US troops stationed at the border in Texas and Arizona have now been given a new assignment in California, specifically around the San Ysidro port of entry near San Diego, California, and Tijuana, Mexico.
The move comes after US Customs and Border Protection asked the Pentagon for help to stop illegal immigration. According to the US military 2,400 troops are in Texas, 1,400 are in Arizona and 1,800 are currently in California.
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Yesterday, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham responded to Democratic Congresswoman-Elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's comparison of the migrant crisis with the Holocaust.
He said she should "take a tour of the Holocaust Museum" in Washington, DC, which documents the Second World War genocide of Jews all over Europe.
Today, the Auschwitz Museum responded with a subtweet of Mr Graham pointing out the Holocaust "did not start with gas chambers" but was a gradual development many critics of the Trump administration are worried is repeating now.
Just a reminder: There are actually American troops stationed along the US-Mexico border. US border patrol agents were the ones who the tear gas, however.
Approximately 300 US troops stationed at the border in Texas and Arizona have now been given a new assignment in California, specifically around the San Ysidro port of entry near San Diego, California, and Tijuana, Mexico.
The move comes after US Customs and Border Protection asked the Pentagon for help to stop illegal immigration.
According to the US military 2,400 troops are in Texas, 1,400 are in Arizona and 1,800 are currently in California.
Speaking of the US military - while Defence Secretary James Mattis did not address the migrant caravan in comments about the US military's challenges in the western hemisphere, Navy Admiral Kurt Tidd said the caravan is an example of one.
"We have to be more attentive to the threats in this hemisphere. What affects one, affects all," Mr Tidd said, adding that lawlessness and high crime in some countries "are the drivers of migration from Central America."
Here is a map and timeline of the area of the San Ysidro port where the tear gas incident took place, made by the LA Times. US border officials reportedly used canisters of the gas multiple times to disperse the crowd rushing the border barrier.
LA Times
Amid the tear gas crisis, Donald Trump continues to demand Congress fund his proposed border wall, running the 2,000 miles of the US-Mexico border, cutting through land in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California.
Mr Trump had, for nearly two years on the campaign trail and in the White House, promised Mexico would foot the massive bill for the project without ever saying why or how they would do so.
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".
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