SAN YSIDRO, Calif. (KGTV) - Border Patrol officials in San Diego say they are preparing for the possibility of interactions with 7,000 immigrants seeking asylum at the U.S-Mexico border in San Ysidro.
Mexico has already offered asylum to the migrant caravan, officials say. If the group reaches Tijuana, they will be denied entry into the United States.
1,300 U.S. military troops are at San Ysidro to support the border mission, but not in a law enforcement role, according to military officials.
The Army, Marines, and military police will fill in gaps along the border and erect barriers, creating an infrastructure to make it harder to cross illegally.
Border protection officials also told 10News there is no place to put the migrants. During a tour of the San Ysidro Port of Entry Friday, journalists were allowed to tour the holding area but forbidden to take photographs. ICE detention facilities are already at capacity, officials say, and any more additions would push the problem to the breaking point.
Anyone who enters the U.S. illegally will be arrested, Border Patrol officials say.
"We are not going to allow large groups of aliens to come to this county and to enter this country unaddressed,” said Rodney Scott, U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Scott added that if the caravan does visit the U.S., nothing is off the table in terms of stopping them, including a full border shutdown.
The military says it views its mission at the border as temporary, and says it plans to be gone by December 15.
