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At the White House, Trump said the border agents involved in the incident "had to use (force) because they were being rushed by very hard people and they were using tear gas ".
"In the end, nobody comes to our country unless we come legally," he added. Trump also said that the Mexican government "wants to see if they can fix the problem."
CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan told reporters earlier on Monday that nearly 1,000 people in a caravan of migrants traveling through Central America and Mexico were seeking to illegally enter the United States. -United.
The use of tear gas "has prevented a dangerous situation from getting worse," McAleenan said.
He added that according to the initial report of the CBP, 69 people were apprehended in the United States. McAleenan said he was unaware of any successful illegal entry of caravan members to the United States.
"[CBP] effectively managed an extremely dangerous situation involving more than 1,000 people who were seeking to enter the United States illegally in large groups. They did it safely and without any serious injuries reported on both sides of the border, "McAleenan said.
Sunday's incident marked an escalation of the tensions that have accumulated since Central American migrant groups began arriving in Tijuana a few weeks ago while they were trying to get away with it. enter the United States. The incident began with a march towards the border which, according to the organizers, would be peaceful. In response, CBP deployed additional staff to San Ysidro, California, on Sunday, waiting for demonstrations on both sides of the border.
McAleenan said individuals had crossed the border fence east of San Ysidro and some had headed west and had sought to enter through the Tijuana River channel. He described the "aggressive behavior" of some migrants in both localities. Border patrol officers, however, used "less lethal devices" including tear gas and "other projectiles", but not rubber bullets. He stated that CBP had no rubber bullets in its stocks at the border.
McAleenan said that according to the protocol, the decision to fire was made by the officers on the scene using their professional judgment, and that according to the protocol, the incident will be reviewed. He also described CBP as having reacted with the use of force mainly to adult men throwing stones.
Four officers were hit by stones but, because of their protective gear, they were not seriously injured, McAleenan said.
Sunday's fray has shut down one of the busiest international crossings in the world, the San Ysidro entrance port, near San Diego, to traffic vehicles and pedestrians for several hours. On Sunday afternoon, CBP reopened two-way traffic lanes for pedestrians and vehicles.
On the other side of the Mexican border, Tijuana police arrested 39 people Sunday night, the agency said on Facebook.
Jerry Nadler, representative of the House Judiciary Committee, the representative of New York, said in a statement that the incident at the border "is not a surprise, and that this government's policies in border demarcation only complicated the situation ".
"Our laws allow asylum seekers to seek asylum at our southern border, but there is not really a clear policy on how to do it," added Nadler. "And this kind of confusion inevitably leads to desperate incidents like the ones we saw yesterday."
Emanuella Grinberg and Mariano Castillo from CNN contributed to this report.
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