President Trump and the head of Customs and Border Protection on Monday defended the administration’s use of tear gas on migrants attempting to rush the southern border the previous day.
The border patrol agents “had to use” tear gas on the asylum seekers in Tijuana who tried to jump the fences near near the San Ysidro checkpoint after authorities closed it, the president said.
“They had to use [it] because they were being rushed by some very tough people,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “And they used tear gas. Here’s the bottom line: Nobody’s coming into our country unless they come in legally.”
“We’ve during certain times, as you know, closed the border,” Trump said, adding that the Mexican government “wants to see if they can straighten it out.”
“They’re not, as you know,” he responded to a question about whether he supported the children in the group being affected by the chemical.
Several photographs sparked national outrage after they were circulated Sunday and Monday showing women and children in the group of migrants running from clouds of tear gas.
In 2013, the Obama administration used pepper spray to control a similar, smaller crowd of about 100 migrants, who also threw rocks at border patrol agents, but no one was arrested in that incident.
The decision to use force “prevented a dangerous situation from getting worse,” CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said, adding that the group trying to cross the border numbered over 1,000.
There were no “reported serious injuries on either side of the border,” he added, although four agents were struck with rocks.
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said in a statement that some of the migrants “sought to harm CBP personnel by throwing projectiles at them.”
Critics of the administration were quick to denounce the move.
“Shooting tear gas at children is not who we are as Americans,” Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez wrote on Twitter.
“This is wrong,” Hillary Clinton tweeted with an article about the tear gassing.
Trump threatened Monday morning on Twitter to “close the Border permanently if need be.”