Mexican border town residents pelt migrant caravan with rocks

President Donald Trump has tweeted that groups heading for the US have been waving their national flags, while complaining about “persecution” in the same countries that the flags represent. He called it a “big con”.

….their country’s flag. Can this be possible? Yes, because it is all a BIG CON, and the American taxpayer is paying for it!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 17, 2018

Several migrant caravans that have traveled more than 4 000 kilometers from Honduras and El Salvador, have arrived in Tijuana. But residents do not want them there.

As the caravans reached Tijuana, residents pelted the migrants with rocks and stones on Saturday, telling them to go home. Mexico’s government has sent food and blankets to the municipal Benito Juarez recreational complex, that has been turned into a shelter, Deutsche Welle reported.

But on Sunday, angry residents attempted to charge the shelter calling the migrants’ arrival an “invasion”.

In an interview with Milenio Television, Tijuana Mayor Juan Manuel Gastelum said on Thursday the migrants were no longer welcome, calling them a “horde” that has been infiltrated by criminals.

“Tijuana is a city of immigrants, but we don’t want them in this way,” the mayor said. “It was different with the Haitians, they carried papers, they were in order. It wasn’t a horde, pardon the expression.”

Gastelum pleaded with the Mexican government to deport the caravan migrants as soon as possible. “You’re going to tell me we have to respect human rights,” he said. “But human rights are for law-abiding humans.”

Some 3000 migrants had gathered there by Thursday night, and thousands more are expected to arrive over the coming weeks. According to The Associated Press, estimates by Mexico’s federal government indicate the number could reach 10 000.

Black US Senator Kamala Harris, who is currently the frontrunner for the 2020 US Democratic Presidential Candidate Nomination, recently suggested that the US border-enforcement agency ICE was akin to the KKK, a racist hate group intended to instill fear into racial minorities using domestic terrorism.

The Democrats rely heavily on the migrant and non-white vote to make gains in elections.

Footage from a #USBP thermal camera captures multiple men climbing the border barrier near Imperial Beach and destroying recently installed concertina wire. All seeking to enter the U.S. are urged to do so at one of more than 320 official U.S. Ports of Entry. #CBP #bordersecurity pic.twitter.com/1IoSjiFoBt

— CBP San Diego (@CBPSanDiego) November 16, 2018

Video footage from US Customs & Border Protection taken by thermal-image cameras at the border shows men trying to climb over the fence on Wednesday night. New US rules block asylum for migrants who reach the border without documents.