U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested 32 people at a demonstration Monday that was organized by a Quaker group on the border with Mexico, authorities said. Demonstrators were calling for an end to detaining and deporting immigrants and showing support for migrants in a caravan of Central American asylum seekers.
A photographer for The Associated Press saw about a dozen people being handcuffed after they were told by agents to back away from a wall that the Border Patrol calls "an enforcement zone." The American Friends Service Committee, which organized the demonstration, said 30 people were stopped by agents in riot gear and taken into custody while they tried to move forward to offer a ceremonial blessing near the wall.
Border Patrol spokesman Theron Francisco said 31 people were arrested for trespassing and one was arrested for assaulting an officer.
Immigrant rights activists stand arm in arm and line up against border patrol agents during a protest at the border wall in San Diego, Calif., Monday, Dec. 10, 2018. (AP PhotoGregory Bull)
More than 300 people, many the leaders of churches, mosques, synagogues and indigenous communities, participated in the demonstration at San Diego's Border Field State Park, which borders Tijuana, Mexico.
The rally held on a beach divided by the border wall was the second confrontation for Border Patrol agents since a caravan of more than 6,000 migrants, predominantly Hondurans, reached Tijuana last month. A confrontation with rock-throwers from Mexico led to U.S. agents firing tear gas into Mexico on Nov. 25 and a five-hour closure of the nation's busiest border crossing.
Thousands of migrants are living in crowded tent cities in Tijuana after undertaking a grueling journey from Central America to the U.S. border. Many face waiting weeks or months in Mexico while they apply for asylum. The U.S. is processing up to about 100 claims a day at the San Diego crossing, which is creating a backlog.
Immigrant rights activists are arrested by border patrol agents during a protest at the border wall in San Diego, Calif., Monday, Dec. 10, 2018. (AP PhotoGregory Bull)
The demonstration Monday was meant to launch a national week of action called "Love Knows No Borders: A moral call for migrant justice," which falls between Human Rights Day on Monday, and International Migrants' Day on Dec. 18, the group said.
"Showing up to welcome and bless children, mothers and fathers seeking asylum from very difficult and dehumanizing circumstances is the right and humane thing to do," said Bishop Minerva G. Carcano, from the San Francisco Area United Methodist Church. "How we act in these moments determines who we will become as a nation."
The group also is calling on Congress to defund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection.
Immigrant rights activists are arrested by border patrol agents during a protest at the border wall in San Diego, Calif., Monday, Dec. 10, 2018. (AP PhotoGregory Bull)
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia (AP) — The first woman to command Canada's military called out a U.S. senator on Saturday for questioning the role of women in combat.
Gen. Jennie Carignan responded to comments made by Idaho Republican Sen. Jim Risch, the ranking member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who was asked on Friday whether President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, should retract comments that he believes men and women should not serve together in combat units.
“I think it’s delusional for anybody to not agree that women in combat creates certain unique situations that have to be dealt with. I think the jury’s still out on how to do that," Risch said during a panel session at the Halifax International Security Forum on Friday.
Carignan, Canada's chief of defense staff and the first woman to command the armed forces of any Group of 20 or Group of Seven country, took issue with those remarks during a panel session on Saturday.
"If you’ll allow me, I would first like maybe to respond to Senator Risch’s statement yesterday about women in combat because I wouldn’t want anyone to leave this forum with this idea that women are a distraction to defense and national security," Carignan said.
“After 39 years of career as a combat arms officer and risking my life in many operations across the world, I can’t believe that in 2024, we still have to justify the contribution of women to their defense and to their service, in their country. I wouldn’t want anyone to leave this forum with this idea that this is that it is some kind of social experiment.”
Carignan said women have participating in combat for hundreds of years but have never been recognized for fighting for their country. She noted the women military personnel in the room.
“All the women sitting here in uniform, stepping in, and deciding to get into harm’s way and fight for their country, need to be recognized for doing so," she said. “So again, this is the distraction, not the women themselves."
Carignan received a standing ovation at the forum, which attracts defense and security officials from Western democracies.
Hegseth has reignited a debate that many thought had been long settled: Should women be allowed to serve their country by fighting on the front lines?
The former Fox News commentator made it clear, in his own book and in interviews, that he believes men and women should not serve together in combat units. If Hegseth is confirmed by the Senate, he could try to end the Pentagon’s nearly decade-old practice of making all combat jobs open to women.
Hegseth’s remarks have generated a barrage of praise and condemnation.
Carignan was promoted to the rank of general during the change-of-command ceremony this past summer, after being chosen by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government to become Canada’s first female defense chief.
Carignan is no stranger to firsts. She was also the first woman to command a combat unit in the Canadian military, and her career has included deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia and Syria.
For the last three years, she has been the chief of professional conduct and culture, a job created as a result of the sexual misconduct scandal in 2021.
Her appointment this year comes as Canada continues to face criticism from NATO allies for not spending 2% of its gross domestic product on defense. The Canadian government recently said that it would reach its NATO commitment by 2032.
Risch said Friday Trump would laugh at Canada’s current military spending plans and said the country must do more.
Attendees applaud Canada's Chief of Defense Staff at The Halifax International Security Forum on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024 in Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada. (AP Photo/Rob Gillies) (AP Photo/Rob Gillies)
FILE - Gen. Jennie Carignan, Chief of the Defense Staff, participates in a media availability after a change of command ceremony at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, Ontario, Thursday, July 18, 2024. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP, File)
