Hundreds of migrants rushed the U.S. and Mexico border Sunday, prompting a shutdown at the San Ysidro Port of Entry in both directions.
The San Ysidro Port of Entry is the largest land border crossing between San Diego and Tijuana.
The fiver-hour shutdown held up traffic for miles and stranded pedestrians as federal authorities began launching tear gas into the crowds of migrants in an attempt to get them to disperse.
Federal authorities said the migrants tried to breach the border at multiple locations, leading to a number of assaults on Customs and Border Protection personnel and dozens of arrests, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
The Mexican Interior Ministry announced it would deport the about 500 migrants who tried to "violently" and "illegally" cross the border.
Migrants attempted to enter the U.S. through multiple locations along the border as wells as through freeway lanes at the port of entry with some throwing rocks at Customs and Border Protection personnel.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said on Twitter that federal officials will “prosecute to the fullest extent of the law anyone who destroys federal property, endangers our frontline operators, or violates our sovereignty.”
Tijuana Mayor Juan Manuel Gastelum also took to Twitter to address the incident saying, “We will not allow our binational relationship to be broken by the bad behavior of the migrant caravan.”
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