11/26/2018

NEW BARRICADES NOW


HUGE metal or concrete barricades and walls of concertina wire went up Monday on both sides of a bustling US Mexico-Mexico border crossing as a caravan of US-bound  Central American migrants pours into Tijuana, the last stop before California.

US authorities went so far as to briefly close the San Ysidro Port of Entry altogether.

It is one of the busiest  land border crossings in the world - as the new barriers  were set up, triggering total gridlock for vehicles and pedestrians going from Tijuana across into San Diego.

''It was as if time stopped. Nothing is moving. Neither cars, nor people, nor my business,'' said Armando Lopez, who sells newspapers, cigarettes and candy on the Mexican side.

US Customs and Border Protection  ''suspended operations to safely place impediments at the port of entry that would restrict access to a large group attempting to run through the border crossing,'' the agency said in a statement, referring to the migrant caravan.

President Donald Trump has characterized the caravan journey as an invasion, making it a central plank  of this anti-immigrant platform.

The  thousands-strong  set out more than a month ago from Honduras, fleeing poverty an gang violence and sometimes forcing its way across borders as the migrants head towards the US.

Some 3,500  migrants have arrived so far in Tijuana and another 3,000 are expected to start flowing in as as of Tuesday. Most of those making the trek are Hondurans.

The big question is whether, once they are all together, they will try to  cross over as they did from Guatemala into Mexico   -by force or opt instead for the long and tedious process of requesting asylum in the US [Agencies].

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