Deportees Attempt Group Crossing at Otay Mesa


By Diana Guevara and R. Stickney

| Monday, Mar 10, 2014 | Updated 12:50 PM PDT

Dozens of families are planning to cross into the U.S. en masse Monday and ask to be allowed back into the U.S.

Organizers say the people participating have been sent back to their home countries for various reasons. Many have been deported.

They will ask for asylum in the U.S., coming from Mexico, organizers said.

Approximately 200 people gathered on the pedestrian bridge on the U.S. side of the border crossing to support their loved ones in the protest.

On the Mexico side, women held babies and small toddlers as they marched and chanted.

Some of the protestors wore their high school graduation robes and talked about being excited to return to different states in the U.S. including Washington, Texas, Arizona and North Carolina.

“I’m going back home, that’s all I gotta say,” said one young man. “San Jose, California.”

Another man stood at the turnstile and spoke into a video camera, pledging to return to his friends and family in New Jersey.

U.S. Customs Border Protection officials and local law enforcement were on the scene and told NBC 7 that if any of the protestors gets out of hand, they will be detained.

NBC 7 has a news crew at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry.

Check back for updates on this developing story.

In November, a large number of people launched a coordinated border crossing that led to violence between the participants and U.S. Border Patrol agents.

More than 100 people pelted the agents with rocks and bottles.
Even with backup assistance, the agents were outnumbered by the crowd.

Despite potential for a much bigger disaster, in the end, most walked away from the chaos just wiping their eyes from the pepper spray.

No one was seriously injured, and no one made it past border agents.

Source: http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/loca...#ixzz2varBCqP2