Mom pictured fleeing with her kids from tear gas at the US border says she never thought Border Patrol would use it on children
- A mom who fled tear gas with her kids at the US border said she did not think Border Control would use the gas on children.
- Maria Lila Meza Castro arrived at the border to seek asylum on Sunday alongside other Central American migrants, who were met with tear gas after some tried to rush the border.
- Trump defended the use of tear gas as needed to combat "very tough people" despite outrage, and claimed that Border Patrol did not use the gas on children.
- Tear gas by its nature is difficult to target, and can easily affect people it was not specifically aimed at.
- Customs and Border Protection said the move "prevented a dangerous situation from getting worse" and that no one was hurt in the incident.
The mom who was pictured fleeing with her kids from tear gas at the US-Mexico border says she never thought Border Patrol would use it on children.
Maria Lila Meza Castro, a 35-year-old migrant from Honduras, arrived at the US border on Monday with her five children on Sunday to seek asylum. She came alongside hundreds of other Central American migrants who formed part of a caravan that had been traveling to the US.
They were blocked by the Mexican police and some rushed the US border and reportedly attempted to break through barbed wire and metal sheeting, where Border Patrol agents released tear gas canisters.
"The first thing I did was grab my children," Meza told Reuters in an interview at a migrant shelter in Tijuana. "I was scared, and I thought I was going to die with them because of the gas."
Around 5,200 people who traveled in the caravan are in the shelter, in makeshift tents in a stadium, according to Reuters.
Meza's five children age from toddlers to teenagers, and she held the hands of her five-year-old daughters Saira and Cheili in an image that has sparked outrage over the US use of tear gas.
Read More: Backlash erupts after the Trump administration fires tear gas at migrants in clash at the US-Mexico border
"We never thought they were going to fire these bombs where there were children, because there were lots of children," Meza said.
She told Reuters that her young son James nearly fainted after a tear gas canister landed near him.
"It wasn't right, they know we are human beings, the same as them," she said.
A US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) spokesperson confirmed agents deployed "crowd dispersing devices," which included pepper-ball launching systems and CS gas canisters - commonly known as tear gas - to deter the migrants.
Trump defended using tear gas as he said border control agents were being "rushed by some very tough people."
Trump denied that tear gas was used against children, despite photo and video footage that showed children being affected.
When asked by a reporter: "Is it OK to use tear gas on children?" Trump responded "We didn't. We don't use it on children, CNN reported. Trump also said that a "minor form" of tear gas was used, though he was contradicted by the commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection who said "standard law enforcement issue" was used.
Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said that closing the border on Sunday "prevented a dangerous situation from getting worse" and that the decision to use tear gas was made by agents on the scene who used their professional judgment, according to CNN.
The incident will be reviewed in line with protocol, McAleenan said.
69 people were apprehended entering the US, he said.
Homeland Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen also defended the use of tear gas, saying that The White House had "warned about the danger" ahead of those who were traveling to the US.
Mexico's government has called for "a full investigation" into what it described as non-lethal weapons directed toward Mexican territory.