Since mid-October over 7,000 Honduran immigrants have been making their way to America to find their “American Dream.” They claim to be trying to escape the harsh life of poverty, gang violence, and chaos in Honduras.
Currently, there are thousands of migrants living on Mexican streets and shelters; it’s their last and final stop before reaching the United States. Many are stuck in the southern parts of Mexico because the police are not letting them advance onto Tijuana, which is on the southern border of California.
The U.S. officials are offering to interview fifty people a day to give them asylum, which means providing political protection from their own country. The wait is approximately six weeks to five months. There are still more than 5,000 that are currently on their way to Mexico, which means an even longer wait for them.
The living conditions aren’t any better. Approximately 5,000 people are living in Mexican streets, a large amount of those are small children. 3,500 people are being squeezed into homeless shelters. An estimated 3,400 are waiting at the Mexi-Cali border trying to cross and rally even more attention to the migrants.
Events escalated on November 26th, one or more people were throwing rocks at border patrol agents, who responded with rubber bullets and tear gas. There were pregnant women and children present when the tear gas was being fired at them. Children were passing out, crying, and scared. According to Fox News, Customs and Border Protection officials told reporters that all uses of force, including the firing of tear gas, will be reviewed under agency policy to judge whether they were appropriate or not.