09:55
Desperate migrants scale a fence at the US-Mexico border in Tijuana, risking almost certain detention in an hopes that getting arrested may give them a chance to apply for asylum.
Video source: VCG
A child runs along the fence trying to keep up with the other migrants as they look for a spot to cross.
The men help the women and children climb the fence. A man can be heard quieting a child who cries for her mother.
Once on the other side, they walk up a hill - turning themselves in. Reuters reporters saw roughly two dozen people climbing the fence Monday evening and as darkness descended, more migrants followed.
Thousands of migrants fled central America on foot, trying to escape violence and economic hardship for a chance at a better life in the US.
But US President Donald Trump has called the migrants 'an invasion,' and vowed to stop them from entering.
Mexican police have tried to block them from reaching the US Port of entry and filing asylum claims, and thousands of migrants have lived in squalid camps in Tijuana. Some are economic refugees without strong asylum claims. Others say they've received death threats and are fleeing for their lives.
Applying for asylum at a US land border can take months, so some are now forgoing legal entry, testing their luck, and hoping that if they're apprehended in America their cases could be heard sooner. In this video, one can be heard directing a child - telling the child where to go.
A number of the migrants ran to try to escape arrest, but most of them could be seen walking toward border patrol officers to hand themselves in.
