The United States has reopened its main border crossing with Mexico after closing it for several hours as U.S. officers fired tear gas to break up demonstrators who had tried to break through a fence separating the two countries.
The border crossing at the San Ysidro port of entry between San Diego and Tijuana was closed for traffic in both directions on November 25, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency said on Twitter.
Mexico said it would deport the migrants who it says tried to “violently” and “illegally” enter the United States at the crossing that links the Mexican city of Tijuana with the southern Californian city of San Diego.
Tensions on the border have been rising for weeks as a caravan of thousands of migrants from Central America approached the U.S. border.
Since arriving, they have been staying at a soccer stadium in Tijuana as they wait to request asylum.
U.S. President Donald Trump campaigned on taking a hard line toward such migrants in congressional elections in early November.
On November 8, his administration enacted new restrictions on asylum claims by migrants, barring people who illegally cross the United States' southern border with Mexico from seeking asylum.
The new rules mostly affect migrants from Central America -- Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador -- who cross the U.S. border with Mexico to flee violence and poverty in their home countries.