More than 600 “convicted criminals” are traveling with the caravan of migrants heading toward the US border and many of the women are using children as “human shields” in their confrontations with border officials, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said.
“We have confirmed that there are over 600 convicted criminals traveling with the caravan flow,” she said in a statement posted Monday evening on the department’s Facebook page. “This includes individuals known to law enforcement for assault, battery, drug crimes, burglary, rape, child abuse and more.”
Nielsen said that most of the migrants from Central American countries are male with a few women mixed in.
“It appears in some cases that the limited number of women and children in the caravan are being used by the organizers as ‘human shields’ when they confront law enforcement,” she said in an effort to “dispel many of the rumors and much of the misinformation circulating.”
Her statement echoes comments made by President Trump that the women photographed fleeing tear gas with children in tow during a confrontation at the San Ysidro, Calif., port of entry Sunday were “grabbers.”
“In some cases, you know, they’re not the parents. These are people, they call ’em ‘grabbers’ – they grab the child, because they think they’re gonna have a certain status by having a child,” the president said on Monday. “You know, you have certain advantages and things with our crazy laws that frankly Congress should be changing. You know, if you change the laws, you wouldn’t have this problem.”
Nielsen also suggested that Border Patrol agents had the right to fire tear gas at the migrants because the agents were acting in self-defense.
“I refuse to believe that anyone honestly maintains that attacking law enforcement with rocks and projectiles is acceptable,” she said. “It is shocking that I have to explain this, but officers can be seriously or fatally injured in such attacks. Self-defense isn’t debatable for most law-abiding Americans.”