A two-year-old child crashed on the Mexico-US border from a five-meter-high border fence near Yuma, Arizona. The news agency AP reports that the girl fell on an adult's head and contracted a bloody nose. The accident shows once again how tense the situation is at the transitions from Mexico to the USA.
In recent weeks, hundreds of people from Central America have been traveling through Mexico in the direction of the United States. Especially in the Mexican city of Tijuana, there were chaotic scenes at the arrival of migrants: When the refugees tried to overcome the barrier, the United States closed the border between Tijuana and the US metropolis of San Diego.
The number of families arrested by border police at the US's southwestern borders last year has risen by about 140 percent, reports AP.
REUTERS
Tijuana
The two-year-old and two other children, ages 7 and 10, were then thrown across the border fence by someone on the Mexican side, while on the other, someone was waiting to catch them. The border police said the families were from Guatemala. They were reportedly arrested.
More than 14,000 families have been arrested at the Yuma border crossing this year. Not even when the news of the family separation at the border became known, did the numbers go down. Most of the refugees go directly to the border guards or wait until they are found.
The large number of refugees trying to enter the US has significantly changed the work of the Border Police. Usually, officials are responsible for picking up drug smugglers or arresting individuals who are trying to cross the border illegally.
Soldiers stay until the end of January
The US Department of Defense has now announced that the deployment of soldiers on the Mexican border should be extended. Secretary of Defense James Mattis announced that US President Donald Trump's order should be deployed by January 31, 45 days ahead of schedule.
The soldiers should renew or repair barbed wire fences and provide security for the border patrol. Currently, around 5,400 soldiers are deployed in California, Arizona and Texas. The number should decrease according to data of the Pentagon to 4000.
In the face of the aggravated situation, Trump wants to get the new Mexican government to agree to an agreement whereby asylum seekers will have to stay in Mexico while they review their application by US courts. Trump had announced the deal in late November. However, Mexico's Interior Minister Olga Sánchez Cordero denied that the agreement was already sealed.