Border Patrol: Tear gas, pepper spray used against rock-throwing migrants at border

Some of the migrants threw rocks as others lifted children over the razor-edged wire late Monday in the San Diego sector, the agency said a statement, which was based on initial reports. The confrontation continued into the early hours of Tuesday morning.

One image distributed by Reuters shows a man covering his mouth as he is surrounded by smoke. Another shows people going over the wall as armed agents stand on the US side.

Border Patrol agents hold their guns as migrants try to go over the border fence near Tijuana, Mexico.

About 150 migrants approached the fence, but about one-third of the group members turned back into Mexico when they saw Border Patrol agents, CBP estimated.

A migrant is lowered toward concertina wire on the US side of the border fence.

Others tried to enter the United States by going over or under the fence. The agency said teenagers wrapped in jackets, blankets or mats were put over the wire, as were "toddler-sized children."

People flee after US agents employed gas and smoke at the border with Mexico.

"To address the rock throwers assaulting agents and risking the safety of migrants attempting to cross who were already on the US side, both smoke and minimal countermeasures were deployed," the agency said. Those measures included pepper spray and CS gas, a type of tear gas.

Twenty-five people were apprehended, the agency said, without elaborating about where the detainees were sent. The agency said an internal investigation is underway.

A man looks through the fence as he and others prepare to cross it illegally on Monday.

The incident comes a little more than a month after a similar incident in which agents fired tear gas at migrants, igniting anger, debate and concern. The group included mothers and children, and a photo of Maria Lila Meza Castro and her kids captured national attention. They were later allowed into the country to await asylum hearings.

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