Hundreds of migrants try to make their way across the US border bridge
A large group of migrants attempted to make their way across the US-Mexico border on Sunday.
Scenes of the mass crossing attempt circulated on social media, showing desperate migrants with children and minimal belongings as they attempted to cross the Paso del Norte Bridge, which spans the Rio Grande River between El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico .
The chaos at the bridge began around 1:30 p.m. Sunday as migrants gathered on the Ciudad Juarez side and marched north, demanding entry.
US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents used barbed wire, wooden barricades and officers armed with shields to stop the crowd.
Traffic on the bridge was completely halted around 5 p.m. It took authorities another two hours to reopen the bridge to vehicles.
At the same time, groups of migrants tried the same tactics at two other bridges, including the Bridge of the Americas and the Stanton Street Bridge. Traffic was halted at each bridge for about 45 minutes.
It is unclear whether any of the migrants were injured in the attempted crossing. A CBP public affairs official told Metro.co.uk that no federal agents were injured and the agency was coordinating with Mexican authorities during the surge.
“CBP works to maintain the legal and orderly flow of entry into the United States while protecting the security of legitimate trade and travel,” the agency said.
The agency said it could not speculate on what caused the surges
One migrant said he was fed up with the agency’s app, called CBP One, which the Biden administration launched to streamline the asylum application process.
“We want answers, please,” said 18-year-old Venezuelan Camila Paz. “The application did absolutely nothing for us.”
In California, meanwhile, eight people were killed on two smuggling boats capsized off the coast of San Diego.
The Coast Guard and the San Diego Fire-Rescue searched all day for any survivors of the crash. A survivor estimated there were about 15 people, mostly migrants, on board the small vessels.
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https://metro.co.uk/2023/03/13/hundreds-of-migrants-try-to-force-their-way-across-us-border-bridge-18434757/ Hundreds of migrants try to make their way across the US border bridge