Migrants attempt to cross border as Trump threatens to temporarily close US-Mexico border

As President Trump threatened to close the US-Mexico border, hundreds of Central American migrants walked towards Tijuana San Ysidro crossing point from Tijuana into California as tensions mounted over the asylum issue in the US border town.

"If we find that it gets to a level where we are going to lose control or where people are going to start getting hurt, we will close entry into the country for a period of time until we can get it under control," Trump said as migrants sought to cross the border.

"The whole border. I mean the whole border. Mexico will not be able to sell their cars into the United States where they make so many cars," the US president added.

The migrants were protesting the slow process of visa application amid calls by migrant leaders to cross the border. As tensions rose border officials and human rights activists intervened to prevent the border crossing.

The migrants comprising of people belonging mainly from Honduras,  El Salvador and Guatemala have walked nearly 4,400 kilometres are now at the US doorstep.
Authorities in Tijuana have set up a job fair in an attempt to recruit skilled workers as Mexico continues to house them.

Mexico deployed riot police as officials predicted that upto 10,000 Central American migrants could gather at the northern border crossing points of Tijuana and Mexicali.

President has branded the migrants as dangerous, even calling it as an act of invasion derisively naming them "migrant caravan". The US president had said border guards could use bullets to prevent crossing leading to large-scale criticism.

There are already over 5,000 US guards patrolling the border with the numbers set to swell in the months ahead.