(This story quotes AI-enabled automatic translations of Spanish news accounts into English / It has also been updated to include confirmation of these events by U.S. Customs & Border Protection sources as well as mainstream English-language media sources in Texas).
There are some concerning video and news accounts from the Mexican side of the border with Texas to report today. I have pieced this story together from multiple reports from Mexican media in two major border cities, so bear with me as I lay out what is happening.
We begin with a television news report by Reynaldo Lara of Azteca News Monday in Ciudad Juarez (across the border from El Paso) that "300 people, mostly Venezuelans came aboard the train with the hope of entering the United States tomorrow. 'On August 8 they will open the border' is the rumor that (has attracted) hundreds of migrants to Ciudad Juarez."
That rumor apparently traveled widely, because 800 miles downriver from Juarez - in Matamoros (across the Rio Grande from Brownsville) Mexican media began reporting stories like this from Mexican TV Channel "Gamavision" Tuesday Morning:
"During the early hours of Tuesday, a stampede of migrants (occurred) at the New International Bridge in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, towards Brownsville Texas, with the intention of crossing into the United States, a situation that caused its closure. It all arose from a rumor that they would open (the) border so that they could enter the American Union legally, which was not the case."
Here's more reporting from inoticiasmx: "To the cry of Yes we can! Migrants invade the Puerta México International Bridge in Matamoros early Tuesday morning, seeking to enter the US. American authorities blocked the passage halfway through the crossing and it has been like this for more than 10 hours "
This story was widely reported by other Mexican News Outlets including reports filed HERE, and HERE. The "La Jornada" Newspaper reported the bridge was still closed at dawn Tuesday with Mexican National Guardsmen on the scene to maintain order. La Jornada further reports the crowd consisted mostly of Venezuelan and Haitian immigrants who had been camping on the banks of the Rio Grande near the bridge.
UPDATE: Since I first filed this story, Harlingen television station KGBT says it has confirmed the Mexican media accounts of migrants attempting to rush the International Bridge in Matamoros to Brownsville with U.S. Customs & Border Protection sources:
Back north along the Rio Grande, in Ciudad Juarez, those Venezuelan migrants that arrived by train yesterday, joined by others already in that city, also tried to cross into Texas overnight, according to multiple Mexican media reports.
The Herald of Chihuahua newspaper reports "By Tuesday morning, the banks of the Río (Grande) returned to normal, after the massive attempt to cross hundreds of migrants during Monday night.
On the American side, personnel from the Texas National Guard and the Border Patrol continued to guard the border strip.
In turn, elements of (Ciudad Juarez) Municipal Public Security and the National Guard (patrolled) the Mexican side."
UPDATE: Since I originally reported this story, mainstream El Paso media have since confirmed these events.
The El Paso Times confirms the events at the bridge in Juarez and adds some new facts by reporting that "U.S. border authorities, including CBP's Special Response Team, responded by discharging pepper balls at protesters to disperse the crowd."
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