Americans outraged after 'Trump regime used chemical weapons' on kids seeking asylum in the US: 'Inhumane, depraved and unjust'
President Donald Trump authorized shooting tear gas late Sunday afternoon from the U.S. border into Mexico against hundreds of migrants, including pregnant women, and children in diapers. News slowly spread as the Thanksgiving holiday weekend wrapped up and millions were traveling back home, but by Monday morning countless Americans expressed outrage.
Photos from Reuters showing families, mothers, fathers, and even young children and infants fleeing by foot fueled the anger and upset.
U.S. closes Mexican border crossing, hurls tear gas https://t.co/8L4arprkK7 pic.twitter.com/Gr4jYx4K0q
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) November 26, 2018
The Dallas Morning News described the scene:
"Children screamed and coughed. Fumes were carried by the wind toward people who were hundreds of feet away."
"We ran," a 23-year old Honduran woman told the Associated Press, "but when you run the gas asphyxiates you more." The AP notes she was "cradling her 3-year-old daughter Valery in her arms."
A reporter with the UK's ITV News reports US military helicopters entered Mexico's airspace during the attack:
Us military helicopters all over Mexican side of border now. Normal protocol bars this. https://t.co/q5mfnmvX1z— Emma Murphy (@Emma Murphy) 1543175686
On CNN Monday morning Chief U.S. Border Patrol Agent Rodney Scott defended the use of tear gas by saying agents had to use it to protect themselves after some migrants began throwing rocks at them. When asked if any of the agents had been hurt he admitted they were not.
"You gotta do what you gotta do," he said on CNN.
The Washington Post reports the outrage appears to be partisan, with Republicans supporting the President's use of tear gas against defenseless people seeking asylum.
"Unlike the relatively bipartisan criticism of Trump’s now-abandoned 'family separation' method of deterring migrants, the initial outrage at the tear gassing of children appeared to come primarily from Democrats and critics of the president."
Here's how many responded to Trump's tear gassing of children.
This is how American media would describe this if this happened in a non western country: “American security force… https://t.co/HF150sd4pi— Karen Attiah ON MASTODON @karenattiah@journa.host (@Karen Attiah ON MASTODON @karenattiah@journa.host) 1543206693
For I was a stranger & you tear-gassed me I asked for asylum & you stole my children I fled violence in my country… https://t.co/NlF9P4yYtu— John Fugelsang (@John Fugelsang) 1543188924
Asking to be considered a refugee & applying for status isn’t a crime. It wasn’t for Jewish families fleeing Germa… https://t.co/Tc2erdSHjo— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1543189978
Anyone uncomfortable with spraying tear gas on children is welcome to join the coalition of the moral and the sane.… https://t.co/DTCA4mCMDF— Brian Schatz (@Brian Schatz) 1543188368
The U.S. government deployed tear gas on a #MigrantCaravan, including children, seeking asylum. That is inhumane, d… https://t.co/3ZjWmqwTEa— The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center (@The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center) 1543190808
Someone tweeted at me “what are they supposed to do?” And the answer is “never fire tear gas at children for any re… https://t.co/TcWhxnIjuf— Hend Amry (@Hend Amry) 1543205718
Make no mistake: Trump is testing whether he can get away with things like firing tear gas at young children. He is… https://t.co/Is9I49UKA9— George Takei (@George Takei) 1543193442
These children are barefoot. In diapers. Choking on tear gas. Women and children who left their lives behind -- se… https://t.co/r3SXbDyGGW— Gavin Newsom (@Gavin Newsom) 1543208589
What Trump is doing is illegal: “Children screamed and coughed in the mayhem of the tear gas. Fumes were carried by… https://t.co/vBFmNdAk89— Amy Siskind 🏳️🌈 (@Amy Siskind 🏳️🌈) 1543191747
We allow students to give the Nazi salute yet punish football players who take a knee. We kidnap and cage children.… https://t.co/QsfAl5nJB2— Randi Mayem Singer (@Randi Mayem Singer) 1543186095