Nearly 100 people crossed into the U.S. from the Tijuana River channel on Sunday morning, an incident that was captured on video by people in waiting line at the PedWest crossing nearby in San Ysidro.
The group — made up of people of various nationalities — turned themselves in to U.S. Border Patrol agents about 11:35 a.m., U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said in a statement. The group was transported to CBP facilities for processing.
Nine people — eight Mexican nationals, including four children, and one adult from Brazil — couldn’t cross and stayed on the Tijuana side, according to Mexican officials.
Late last year, Mexican officials installed a chain-link fence reinforced with razor wire at the top and bottom along a stretch of the Tijuana River channel in response to mass crossing incidents reported in the area. The area is guarded by Mexico’s National Guard and Mexican immigration agents.
Enrique Lucero, director of the Tijuana’s Migrant Affairs Office, said Monday that the group passed through a section where the chain-link fence had been cut.
In November, a man died after crossing through the channel with dozens of people. Mexican officials said Monday that they hadn’t seen another crossing with so many people in the area since around that time.
Crossing patterns are fluid along the border and can change frequently due to enforcement efforts at particular locations, control over human smuggling routes or other reasons.
Last month, Mexican officials set up two migration stations to block gaps in the U.S.-Mexico fence at the Jacumba Hot Springs-Ejido Jacumé border, as the number of crossings increased there.
Lucero cited the recent reinforcement there as one possible reason for Sunday’s crossing to the west.
