Many Americans are outraged after finding out that the Trump administration has thrown tear gas into Mexico to target a group of migrants, that included both women and children, trying to rush a border fence.
The chaos broke out on Sunday around the San Ysidro border crossing, which, Homeland Security Secretary, Kristjen Nielson has stated was closed “to ensure public safety in response to large numbers of migrants seeking to enter the U.S. illegally.” According to the Washington Post, Trump officials state that authorities had to respond with force after hundreds of migrants rushed the border near Tijuana, which included some of them throwing projectiles at customs and border protection personnel.
The, now viral, pictures that have surfaced the internet tell a different narrative, and this is the one many Americans, Democratic leaders, and human rights advocates choose to focus on. Many of these pictures portray children gagging from the result of the gas while mothers attempt to rush their young offspring to safety. Many individuals pointed out that this is only evidence “that Trump’s push against a caravan of asylum seekers from central America had gone too far.”
Tom Perez, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, has tweeted that “shooting tear gas at children is not who we are as Americans,” he continued the post saying “seeking asylum is not a crime. We must be better than this.” Perez is not the only official who felt this way about the news. Gavin Newsom, the Democratic governor-elect of California chimed in on this issue stating “These Children are barefoot. In diapers. Choking on tear gas.” He continued his tweet “Women and Children who left their lives behind – seeking peace and asylum – were met with violence and fear,” he argued stating “that’s not my America. We’re a land of refuge. Of hope. Of freedom. And we will not stand for this.”
Many others made it a point to note on twitter that these families crossing the border were seeking refuge from violent conditions in Central America.
Many supporters of the Trump administration argued that migrants could avoid being tear-gassed by not trying to cross the border illegally and hurling objects at the border patrols. Monday Morning President Trump released a tweet threatening to close the border permanently, which could potentially conflict with asylum laws. According to Yale Law School’s Harold Hongju Koh, everyone crossing the Southern border is not “illegally present,” he continued stating “those with valid asylum claims have every right to assert those claims and remain.”
The images that have surfaced are truly heartbreaking and makes you really think if this is the what America has come to, like the democratic officials have stated our country needs to do better. Be sure to comment down below your thoughts and opinions on the issue.