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(Trends Wide) — Federal agents fired “pepper spray” projectiles in El Paso, Texas, at Venezuelans trying to enter the United States as they protested along the Rio Grande international border, according to US Customs and Border Protection. (CBP, for its acronym in English).
The incident occurred this Monday at 12:20 pm local time, according to CBP.
The agency released a statement about the incident after El Paso Times posted a report online, along with a video showing what appeared to be Border Patrol agents on the banks of the Rio Grande using projectiles to drive people holding a Venezuelan flag back into Mexico.
“One of the protesters assaulted an officer with a flagpole, at which time officers responded with crowd containment measures. These measures included the use of the authorized non-lethal force pepper spray projectile delivery system. .The crowd then dispersed and returned to Mexico,” the CBP statement said.
Hours later, the agency said that a Border Patrol agent was injured during the events. An updated CBP statement stated that a subject “threw a rock causing injury to an officer, at which time officers responded by initiating crowd control measures.”
For its part, the National Border Patrol Council, the union that represents the agency’s 18,000 members and support staff, tweeted that people were throwing rocks at agents. The message added: “Officers were using pepper spray projectile launchers that are designed to disperse large crowds of rioters.”
This incident comes after the Biden administration expanded the Trump-era public health order, known as Title 42, earlier this month and broadly applied it to Venezuelans, allowing quick removals of Venezuelan citizens to Mexico. Nonprofit organizations working in the El Paso area tell Trends Wide that hundreds of Venezuelan citizens have camped on the Mexican banks of the Rio Grande and remained in shelters in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, across the border from El Paso. .
The American Civil Liberties Union, better known by its acronym ACLU, issued a statement condemning the use of projectiles against migrants, calling the incident “highly alarming.” The Texas Civil Rights Project organization also issued a statement saying it is “appalled and disgusted” by the images.
