Border Patrol agent defends the use of tear gas at the border
A U.S. Border Patrol agent justified the use of tear gas against migrants who crossed illegally into the United States.
Rodney Scott, Chief Patrol Agent of the San Diego Sector appeared on CNN Monday to discuss the matter.
“The group breached a couple sections of that, actually tore down one small section, started to rush across, and that’s another time they started assaulting our agents. We were able to hold them back using riot type techniques,” he added.
{“url”:”https://twitter.com/NewDay/status/1067049691605389312″,”author_name”:”New Day”,”author_url”:”https://twitter.com/NewDay”,”html”:”&#lt;blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”&#gt;&#lt;p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”&#gt;”If they were truly asylum seekers, they would have just walked up and surrendered and that did not take place,” says the Chief Patrol Agent, San Diego Sector Border Control, defending the decision to use tear gas. &#lt;a href=”https://t.co/w67XCL3JqD”&#gt;https://t.co/w67XCL3JqD&#lt;/a&#gt; &#lt;a href=”https://t.co/ZWrl4N2bOM”&#gt;pic.twitter.com/ZWrl4N2bOM&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/p&#gt;– New Day (@NewDay) &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/NewDay/status/1067049691605389312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;November 26, 2018&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;n&#lt;script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″&#gt;&#lt;/script&#gt;n”,”width”:550,”height”:null,”type”:”rich”,”cache_age”:”3153600000″,”provider_name”:”Twitter”,”provider_url”:”https://twitter.com”,”version”:”1.0″}
Scott said the majority of migrants who rushed the border were men.
U.S. Border Patrol arrested 42 migrants Sunday for attempting to cross. Of the 42, only eight were female and only a few children were involved. Scott said three agents were struck by rocks during the confrontation, but none were seriously injured.
The migrants actions, according to Scott, resulted in agents taking action to protect themselves.
“The group immediately started throwing rocks and debris at our agents, taunting the agents. Once our agents were assaulted and the numbers started growing– You know, we had two or three agents at a time initially facing hundreds of people at a time. They deployed tear gas to protect themselves and to protect the border,” Scott said.
Democratic leaders, human rights advocates and others are calling the decision to use tear gas went too far.
{“url”:”https://twitter.com/GavinNewsom/status/1066920270412177408″,”author_name”:”Gavin Newsom”,”author_url”:”https://twitter.com/GavinNewsom”,”html”:”&#lt;blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”&#gt;&#lt;p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”&#gt;These children are barefoot. In diapers. Choking on tear gas.&#lt;br&#gt;&#lt;br&#gt;Women and children who left their lives behind — seeking peace and asylum — were met with violence and fear.&#lt;br&#gt;&#lt;br&#gt;That’s not my America. We’re a land of refuge. Of hope. Of freedom.&#lt;br&#gt;&#lt;br&#gt;And we will not stand for this. &#lt;a href=”https://t.co/1APpeHIq6v”&#gt;https://t.co/1APpeHIq6v&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/p&#gt;– Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/GavinNewsom/status/1066920270412177408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;November 26, 2018&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;n&#lt;script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″&#gt;&#lt;/script&#gt;n”,”width”:550,”height”:null,”type”:”rich”,”cache_age”:”3153600000″,”provider_name”:”Twitter”,”provider_url”:”https://twitter.com”,”version”:”1.0″}
{“url”:”https://twitter.com/RepRaulGrijalva/status/1067055489106743297″,”author_name”:”Raul M. Grijalva”,”author_url”:”https://twitter.com/RepRaulGrijalva”,”html”:”&#lt;blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”&#gt;&#lt;p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”&#gt;Asylum seekers have a right to seek asylum. Firing tear gas into a crowd of children and the excessive use of force at our southern border is inhumane and completely outrageous. &#lt;a href=”https://t.co/JzFUfcmrL3″&#gt;https://t.co/JzFUfcmrL3&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/p&#gt;– Raul M. Grijalva (@RepRaulGrijalva) &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/RepRaulGrijalva/status/1067055489106743297?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;November 26, 2018&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;n&#lt;script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″&#gt;&#lt;/script&#gt;n”,”width”:550,”height”:null,”type”:”rich”,”cache_age”:”3153600000″,”provider_name”:”Twitter”,”provider_url”:”https://twitter.com”,”version”:”1.0″}
