Several dozen migrants, frustrated with being stuck at the Mexican border, Monday breached the fence in hopes of being allowed to apply for asylum after being arrested on the United States' side.
Reuters reporters Monday night observed approximately two dozen people scale a 10-foot high fence, and in another location, just before dusk, three people were able to squeeze through the fence on the beach, where they were detained by U.S. Border Patrol.
Inland, more migrants followed as darkness came, with families including children making it over the fence.
While many ran to try to escape capture, most walked up to Border Patrol officers and surrendered.
Even those who were able to make it over the Tijuana fence still had to climb up a hill and then face a wall before reaching California, notes Reuters.
Meanwhile, thousands of migrants remain in Tijuana, with only a few trickling through the border, and Mayor Juan Manuel Gastélum told Fox News the city can't keep supporting the migrants.
“In those six hours that the border was closed, we lost approximately 129 million pesos,” said Gastélum, referring to the recent closure after migrants pelted Border Patrol agents with rocks before they were turned back. “That's not fair. How do you think people from Tijuana feel towards those people who are making problems?”
A Tijuana Health Department spokesperson told Fox News that a third of the approximately 6,000 migrants now in the city are being treated for illnesses, including three confirmed cases of tuberculosis, four cases of HIV/AIDS and four cases of chickenpox.
Further, there is the threat of hepatitis, and several of the migrants have lice and skin infections, the spokesperson said.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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