At least 500 migrants, including women and children, attempted to cross the US border in Tijuana on Sunday, climbing over the metal barriers. The authorities have not yet confirmed whether or not migrants have been able to enter the United States.

Desperate, hundreds of migrants from Central America tried Sunday to cross the US border illegally in Tijuana, northwestern Mexico, pushing the United States to close their border south of the Californian city of San Diego.

At least 500 of them, including women and children, who were participating in a peaceful demonstration near the border, made their way to the metal fence and climbed to try to enter the United States. .

"To die to try to pass"

"We are ready if we have to die to try to pass," told AFP Mario Lopez, a Honduran, while helping his three-year-old daughter, who had lost his sandals in the scramble, to crawl under the metal barrier.

After crossing the first obstacle, the migrants received tear gas, an AFP journalist found, while US Army helicopters flew over the border at low altitude, even briefly entering Mexican airspace.

Attempting to protect themselves with their T-shirts, several migrants preferred to turn back, while others continued towards a second barrier, topped with barbed wire, behind which US border guards mobilized to stop their progress.

"Some groups (of migrants) have tried to enter the United States in a violent way , " Interior Minister Alfonso Navarrete confirmed on the Milenio channel. "We will act and proceed with their expulsion," warned the minister. "Far from helping the caravan (migrants from Central America), they are harming him ," he added.

A few minutes earlier, the migrants had started against a first barrier, on the Mexican side, leading to railroad tracks, then crossed a wide, dry concrete canal.

"Are we already in the United States? Asked a migrant, amid the shouts and cavalcades of his compatriots, before resuming his race.

At the foot of the metal fence about three meters high, blankets and belongings abandoned by the migrants were visible. For now, authorities have not confirmed whether or not migrants have been able to enter US soil.

Partially closed border

The border in San Diego "is closed to cars and pedestrians until further notice," the local branch of the US Federal Customs and Border Protection Agency said on Twitter.

President Donald Trump has threatened in recent days to completely close the long border between the United States and Mexico if the situation should degenerate.

It has also issued a decree to automatically reject claims for asylum from people illegally entering the United States, but justice has so far blocked this measure, provoking the ire of the president.

About 5,000 caravan migrants arrived in Tijuana this week after traveling more than 4,000 kilometers in just over a month to escape violence and poverty in Honduras, hoping to enter the United States. United.

In the face of this influx, about 9,000 US troops were deployed at the border with Mexico to prevent any intrusion.

To legally enter the United States, migrants must file asylum applications, but the US administrative services are saturated and the wait could be one year for their file to be studied.

Hundreds of migrants had set up a camp near a border crossing to San Diego on Friday, hoping to push the US authorities to open the gateway to the United States.

Others accepted jobs offered by local companies at a forum organized by the Mexican migration authorities.

The future Mexican government of President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who takes office on December 1, said on Saturday that he has reached an agreement with the US administration for asylum seekers to stay in Mexico while their application is being examined. United States, a major breakthrough confirmed by Donald Trump.

Such an agreement with Mexico, if confirmed, would be a victory for the President of the United States who has made firmness against migrants one of his priorities. It would also be a turning point in relations between the two neighboring countries, poisoned since the election of Donald Trump by his promise to build an antimigrant wall at the border, and his initial demand to pay the cost to the Mexican state. .