• Home
  • Mail
  • Tumblr
  • News
  • Sports
  • Finance
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Answers
  • Groups
  • Mobile
  • More
Yahoo
    • Skip to Navigation
    • Skip to Main Content
    • Skip to Related Content
    • Mail
    Entertainment Home
    Follow Us
    • Diversity in Hollywood
    • Oscars
    • TV
    • Movies
    • Celebrity
    • Music
    • Videos
    • Movie Showtimes

    Border patrol: More families cross illegally to San Diego

    MARKO ALVAREZ
    Associated PressDecember 5, 2018
    Reblog
    Share
    Tweet
    Share

    TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — The woman crawled under first, squeezing face down through a gap dug under the border fence. The space is only a few inches high, and her feet kicked dust into the air as she wiggled. Next was her 3-year-old daughter, dressed in a pink sweat suit, pushed through to the California side on her back and feet first by a man who stayed in Mexico.

    The mother anxiously urged them on. "Hurry," she said. "I'm right here. It doesn't matter if you get dirty."

    Fifteen seconds later, the mother and daughter from Honduras were together in the U.S. And soon a U.S. Border Protection agent approached on an all-terrain vehicle to take them away in custody.

    U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Tuesday that the San Diego sector has experienced a "slight uptick" in families entering the U.S. illegally and turning themselves in to agents since the caravan of Central American migrants arrived in Tijuana two weeks ago.

    Thousands of migrants on the Mexico side of the border are living in crowded tent cities in Tijuana after a grueling weekslong journey through Mexico on foot and hitching rides with the goal of applying for asylum in the U.S. Frustrated with the long wait to apply, with the U.S. processing 100 requests at most each day, some migrants are trying to cross over clandestinely.

    Rachel Rivera, 19, told The Associated Press that Honduras had become unlivable. Moments before flattening herself under the fence, she said she was slipping through to the U.S. in an attempt to "give a better life" to her daughter Charlot.

    An AP video journalist also witnessed more than two dozen migrants scale a fence between Mexico and the U.S. on Monday evening. Once across, entire families raised their hands before border patrol agents who arrived swiftly in white trucks.

    It's unclear where the families were taken from there.

    On a typical day before the caravan arrived in Tijuana, U.S. border patrol agents in the San Diego area detained about 120 or so people trying to cross the border illegally from Mexico.

    President Donald Trump issued a proclamation in November suspending asylum rights for people who try to cross into the U.S. illegally. Rights groups question the legality of that proclamation.

    U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Ralph DeSio said the U.S. was trying to deter illegal crossings by issuing the proclamation.

    The U.S. has an established process for asylum seekers to present themselves in an "orderly" manner at a port of entry, DeSio told AP via email. "When people choose to ignore that process, they put themselves in danger and, in the case of families, they choose to put the lives of their children at risk."

    Trump took to Twitter again Tuesday to drum up support for a better border wall, arguing that the expense would be less than the U.S. incurs each year due to illegal immigration.

    People mainly from Honduras but also from El Salvador and Guatemala formed the caravan to Tijuana, seeking safety in numbers while crossing Mexico to avoid criminals and the fees demanded by the gangs that prey on migrants. Dozens of the migrants have told AP they are fleeing poverty and searching for a better life, while many also tell of harrowing violence and death threats back home.

    Margarita Lopez, a migrant from Honduras, said she would definitely jump the fence to the U.S. if she got the chance. But in the meantime, Lopez stood in line Tuesday to request a humanitarian visa from Mexican officials that would allow her to live and work in Mexico for a year.

    Standing nearby, Luis Fernando Vazquez, a migrant from Guatemala, said he won't make a run for the border.

    "I'm not like that," he said. "I prefer to work, to behave well, here."

    ___

    Associated Press writers Amy Guthrie in Mexico City and Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report.

    Reblog
    Share
    Tweet
    Share

    What to Read Next

    • Comedian Brody Stevens Dies at 48

      Variety
    • Ariana Grande's Fans Call Her Out for Sleeping with Her Makeup On — and Her Clapback Is Epic

      People
    • Robert Kraft Isn't 'Biggest Name Involved' in Human Trafficking Scandal: Reports

      People
    • Will Kylie Jenner and Jordyn Woods Remain Friends After Tristan Thompson Cheating Scandal?

      People
    • R. Kelly arrested, charged in Chicago with sexual abuse

      Associated Press
    • Karl Lagerfeld Left Instructions to His Store Employees About How He Wanted to Be Remembered

      People
    • Jordyn Woods Lashes Out After Blow-Up with Kardashians: ‘It’s Been Real’

      TheBlast
    • Tom Brady, Gisele Bundchen pack on the PDA at rare red carpet event: Photos

      AOL.com
    • North West Lands Her First Solo Cover: See the Cute Pics!

      Entertainment Tonight
    • Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Torched Laura Ingraham Over a ‘Wack Billboard’ Subtweet

      Esquire
    • Anna Wintour, Princess Caroline of Monaco and More Mourn at Karl Lagerfeld's Cremation

      People
    • Gwyneth Paltrow Says She's The Real Victim In Ski Slope Hit-Run

      HuffPost
    • Don Lemon to Jussie Smollett: If Charges Are True, ‘Confess, Throw Yourself on the Mercy of the Court’

      The Wrap
    • Jordyn Woods Speaks at Event Amid Khloe Kardashian Drama: ‘It’s Been Real’

      Entertainment Tonight
    • Spike Lee on his long road from 'Do the Right Thing' to 'BlacKkKlansman'

      Yahoo Movies
    • Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez reveals the silver lining in Trump's presidency on 'Desus & Mero'

      Yahoo TV

    Senator Elizabeth Warren backs reparations for black Americans

    Gnosis: In his early political career Thomas Jefferson took actions that he hoped would put an end to slavery. He drafted the Virginia law of 1778 prohibiting the importation of enslaved Africans. In 1784 he proposed an ordinance banning slavery in the new territories of the Northwest. From the mid-1770's he advocated a plan of gradual emancipation, by which all born into slavery after a certain date would be declared free. Thomas Jefferson abhorred slavery. He said that "All men are created equal," and he meant it. Ben Franklin was the first president of the first anti-slavery society in the United States. In 1787, the Northwest Ordinance outlawed slavery in the Midwest. Richard Bassett, a Signer of the Constitution, converted to Methodism, freed all his slaves and paid them as hired labor. John Quincy Adams fought to end slavery by removing Congress' Gag Rule. In 1807, Congress passed the Slave Importation Act, prohibiting further importation of slaves. Prior to the Civil War, 19 of the 34 States outlawed slavery: In 1856, U.S. Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts helped found the Republican Party, which had as its original platform: "to prohibit...those twin relics of barbarism: polygamy and slavery."

    Join the Conversation
    1 / 5

    6.9k

    • Khloé Kardashian Unfollows Jordyn Woods on Instagram... But Still Follows Tristan Thompson

      People
    • Disney Unveils Major Epcot Refurb That'll Change The Face Of Future World

      HuffPost Life
    • R. Kelly Is ‘Going Down Hard,’ Criminal-Defense Attorney Predicts

      Variety
    • Joanna Gaines' Son Crew Is Adorably Bored as He Joins His Mom for a Meeting: 'Bla Bla Bla'

      People
    • Robert Kraft Is a 'Different Person' After Wife's Death, Source Says Amid Prostitution Scandal

      People
    • Jussie Smollett's mug shot released following arrest on disorderly conduct charge

      Yahoo Celebrity
    • Selena Gomez Glams Up for Best Friend's Wedding: See the Pics!

      Entertainment Tonight
    • Khloé Kardashian Won't Shut Tristan Thompson Out of True's Life: 'She's Not One to Seek Revenge'

      People
    • Tucker Carlson Guest Says African Americans ‘Need To Move On’ From Slavery

      HuffPost
    • Joey Fatone Reveals Which of His 'NSYNC Bandmates Recognized Him as the Rabbit on Masked Singer

      People
    • Laura Ingraham goes after critics of controversial 1971 John Wayne interview: 'This is what the Taliban does'

      Yahoo TV
    • Michael Cohen Will Reportedly ‘Pull the Curtain Back’ on Trump’s Crimes

      Rolling Stone
    • Charles Barkley Clowns on Jussie Smollett: ‘He Shoulda Just Went Out in Liam Neeson’s Neighborhood!’

      TheBlast
    • 'The Masked Singer': Who Was The Lion?!

      Yahoo View
    • 'Tucker Carlson Tonight' guest says African-Americans 'need to move on' from slavery

      Yahoo TV
    • Rihanna Continues to Celebrate Her Birthday Week by Cheering on LeBron James at the Staples Center

      People