U.S. President Donald Trump told supporters at a political rally late Monday that his administration has no intention of allowing Central American migrants who traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border to enter the United States, VOA reports.
“We are sending a simple message to the lawless caravans and to the illegal trespassers marching toward our border,” he said at the rally in the southern state of Mississippi. “It’s very simple: turn back now, go back home, we will not let you in.”
His comments came a day after clashes in the area around the San Ysidro border crossing that divides the U.S. city of San Diego from Tijuana, Mexico. A group of migrants had been peacefully protesting long wait times for their asylum claims to be heard when some migrants split off and tried to breach the border. U.S. border patrol agents responded with tear gas to repel the group.
Trump praised the work of border patrol agents and the members of the U.S. military he sent to the border last month, while downplaying the seriousness of using tear gas.
“First of all, the tear gas is a very minor form of the tear gas itself. It’s very safe,” he told reporters Monday.
Trump also claimed three border patrol personnel “were very badly hurt, getting hit with rocks and stones.”