According to U.S. officials, the caravan of migrants that finally arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border on Sunday was not granted entry due to what they claim was lack of space. Various media outlets had reported that Mexican border agents accompanied some Asylum Seekers from the caravan to the American side before they were stopped and told that their Customs and Border Protection or CBP facility had already reached its capacity.

CBP claims capacity limits reached

Considering the aggressive and nativist stance that President Trump has taken since his presidential campaign to deport and deny entry to Latino and Muslim immigrants, claiming capacity limits could suggest that U.S.

Customs and Border Protection officials would eventually process those seeking asylum if they had the room. Its been reported that the caravan originally started with 1,200 and even some claims of up to 1,700 people, but that many had turned back and/or stayed in Mexico, causing their numbers to dwindle down to under 200. Prior to their arrival, U.S. officials had already claimed that the facility at the San Ysidro crossing only holds 300 people at a time.

According to the Associated Press, the facility does have a max of 300. The AP also suggested that the current bottleneck could clear as the facility had already processed 8,000 asylum cases between October and February, rating it at 50 people a day.

In the same number, about 50 people who were actively seeking asylum and requesting to be processed had crossed a bridge to the American side of the border crossing before they were stopped on Sunday. That group waited outside the building, reportedly still there on Monday while another 50 stayed close behind outside of the Mexican entrance to the crossing in Tijuana.

Countering Trump-US official's claims

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan released a statement on Sunday saying, "as sufficient space and resources become available, CBP officers will be able to take additional individuals into the port for processing." But Irineo Mujica who is an organizer for the group Pueblos Sin Fronteras rejected that claim, saying that it was nonsense and that US officials were abandoning their responsibilities to process asylum seekers.

Here is Irineo Mujica speaking to The Daily Mail about the "threat" that migrants pose weeks before the caravan arrived:

No sign of considering normal asylum requests for any migrant

Neither President Trump nor his attorney general Jeff Sessions of the Justice Department have made any indication that they would even consider the standard processing of asylum requests. On Saturday during a rally in Michigan, Trump referred to the reports of the caravan's arrival, saying that the Mexican government should stop it from coming. The president also referred to border security, and any failure to enforce it by building a wall would mean that his administration would have to shut down the entire country.

Sessions also responded to the reports about the caravan, saying that it was, "a deliberate attempt to undermine our laws and overwhelm our system." At least one lawyer for the caravan has said that by law, U.S. officials must at the very least, hear each asylum claim.
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