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)
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Wednesday with the leader of the United Arab Emirates, wrapping up an overseas trip that saw the highest-level outreach between the United States and Russia since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Rubio's talk with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, also the ruler of Abu Dhabi, comes as the U.S. also tries to continue a shaky ceasefire in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the militant Hamas group.
The UAE, which diplomatically recognized Israel in 2020 during President Donald Trump's first term, also has been key in mediating prisoner swaps between Russia and Ukraine.
Rubio offered his thanks in the meeting to the UAE “for the strength and enduring nature of the relationship, one marked by strong economic ties, defense cooperation and mutual interests in regional stability,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement.
The meeting included discussions on artificial intelligence, the Gaza Strip, Syria, Lebanon and the Red Sea, which had been the site of attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels until the Gaza ceasefire, Bruce added.
There was no immediate comments from the UAE on what Rubio, Sheikh Mohammed and Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE's foreign minister, discussed in their roughly 30-minute meeting. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Sheikh Mohammed on Monday.
However, the state-linked newspaper The National later reported Sheikh Mohammed had told Rubio “that the UAE strongly opposes any attempt to displace the Palestinian people from Gaza.”
Trump has said he wants to empty Gaza permanently of its more than 2 million Palestinians, saying they would not be allowed to return and suggesting at one point he might force Egypt and Jordan to take them in by threatening to cut off U.S. aid.
Sheikh Mohammed also reportedly stressed that reconstruction in Gaza be backed by a “comprehensive and lasting peace” based on a two-state solution, which would see the Palestinians have their own future state out of Gaza and the West Bank.
Both the UAE and Saudi Arabia have been discussed as possible sites for peace talks to end the war in Ukraine, which marks its third anniversary on Monday. Saudi Arabia also has been mentioned as the possible venue for a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, providing a potential diplomatic boon to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom's de facto ruler.
The leaders met Rubio at an Abu Dhabi convention center that's hosting the biennial International Defense Exhibition and Conference this week, where both Ukraine and Russia have displayed weapons — even as Moscow faces Western sanctions over the war.
Russian money continues to flood into Dubai’s booming real estate market. Daily flights between the Emirates and Moscow provide a lifeline for both those fleeing conscription and the Russian elite. Ukrainians as well have fled to the Emirates, an autocratically ruled federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula.
Rubio also visited Abu Dhabi's Abrahamic Family House, which houses a Catholic church, a Jewish synagogue and an Islamic mosque.
Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, right, visits the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP)
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, seventh from left, visits the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP)
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio gets out of a vehicle at ADNEC Centre Abu Dhabi in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP)
United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, right, greets U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio at ADNEC Centre Abu Dhabi in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP)
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, poses for a photo with UAE National Security Advisor Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan at ADNEC Centre Abu Dhabi in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP)
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, center, interacts with United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, United States Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates Martina A. Strong and UAE National Security Advisor Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan at ADNEC Centre Abu Dhabi in in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP)
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, right, meets United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as they meet at ADNEC Centre Abu Dhabi in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP)
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, meets United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as they meet at ADNEC Centre Abu Dhabi in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP)
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio walks as he prepares to board an aircraft to depart to the U.S., in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP)
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, center, walks with United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, right, as they meet at ADNEC Centre Abu Dhabi in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP)
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, center, walks with United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as they meet at ADNEC Centre Abu Dhabi in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP)