A large group of people in Mexico approached a border entry point in El Paso, Texas on Sunday in an attempt to cross into the United States.
The attempt caused disruptions along the border of the two countries, which has caused authorities to mount blockades, according to the US Customs and Border Protection said.
The migrants, in their hundreds, who were primarily Venezuelans began to gather near the entrance of a bridge connecting Mexico’s Ciudad Juarez to El Paso, Texas in the southern United States, according to AFP.
When exasperated by delays and difficulties in applying for asylum in the US after making trips about thousands of miles long through Central America and Mexico, some of them said they thought they would be allowed entry because of a supposed “day of the migrant” celebration.
Images seen by Vanguard on Monday on social media disclosed a group that included many women and children running towards the border, shouting “to the USA.”
They quickly encountered barbed wire, orange barricades and police with shields.
Meanwhile, a civil society worker who helped migrants in Juarez, Enrique Valenzuela said the US border guards moved to close the bridge.
Jackson Solis, a 23-year-old Venezuelan, was among those who came to the bridge on Sunday to see if the rumour was true.
“We all ran and they put a fence with barbed wire around us. They threw tear gas at us,” Solis said.
Solis told AFP he had been waiting six months to try to schedule an appointment to apply for asylum in the United States, where he wants to work.
Appointments must now be booked through a Customs and Border Protection mobile app that was introduced this year as asylum seekers were required to apply in advance rather than upon arrival.
US President Joe Biden’s administration has been hoping to curtail the record tide of migrants and asylum seekers undertaking often dangerous journeys organised by human smugglers to get to the US.
In January, the White House proposed expanding a controversial rule to allow border guards to turn away more would-be migrants if they arrive by land.
“Do not just show up at the border,” Biden said in a speech at the time.
Biden took office vowing to give refuge to asylum seekers and end harsh detention policies for illegal border crossers.
About 200,000 people try to cross the border from Mexico to the United States each month.
Most are from Central and South America and cite poverty and violence back home in requesting asylum.
