As the Trump administration continues to face widespread backlash over its use of tear gas against Central American asylum seekers at the southern border on Sunday, data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency has shone a light on just how common the use of tear gas and pepper spray at the border really is.
In a statement sent to Newsweek on Tuesday, the CBP said its personnel have been using tear gas, or 2-chlorobenzylidene malononitrile (CS), since 2010, deploying the substance a total of 126 times since fiscal year 2012. Under President Donald Trump, CBP’s use of the substance has hit a seven-year record high, with the agency deploying the substance a total of 29 times in fiscal year 2018, which ended on September 30, 2018, according to the agency’s data.
However, the data also showed that the substance was deployed nearly the same number of times in fiscal years 2012 and 2013 under former President Barack Obama, with CBP using the substance 26 times in fiscal year 2012 and 27 times in fiscal year 2013. CBP’s use of tear gas appeared to decline in the following years, with 15 uses in fiscal year 2014, eight in fiscal year 2015 and even fewer in fiscal year 2016, with three recorded instances.
As Trump took office, the numbers began to rise again in fiscal year 2017, climbing to 18 deployments of tear gas, before reaching fiscal year 2018’s record high of 29 uses. CBP also noted in its statement that in addition to using tear gas, the agency also “regularly uses” Pava Capsaicin, or pepper spray. In terms of pepper spray use, deployments appeared to soar under the Obama administration, with CBP personnel using the substance 95 times in fiscal year 2012, a number that climbed to 151 in 2013, before dropping to 109 in fiscal year 2014.
Instances of pepper spray use appeared to drop significantly in fiscal year 2015, declining to 30 instances of use, before rising to 49 instances in fiscal year 2016 and 56 in fiscal year 2017, which would have seen some overlap between Obama and Trump’s presidencies. In fiscal year 2018, CBP said there were 43 recorded instances of pepper spray use under Trump. CBP has not immediately responded to a request for records outlining why tear gas and pepper spray were used in instances recorded since fiscal year 2012.
In a statement emailed to Newsweek, CBP spokeswoman Stephanie Malin said that more than 1,000 individuals who were part of the “so-called caravan” “attempted to cross illegally into the U.S. by breaching section of the fence and using vehicle lanes in and near the San Ysidro Port of Entry” on Sunday. “The group ignored law enforcement agencies in Mexico and assaulted U.S. Federal Officers and Agents assigned to respond to the situation in San Diego,” Malin said.
The CBP spokesperson said that “in response to the assaults and to defuse this dangerous situation, trained CBP personnel employed less-lethal devices to stop the actions of assaultive individuals attempting to break into the U.S.“ Malin said that CBP had been “preparing for weeks” for situations like the one that unfolded at the border on Sunday.
“We have seen the use of violence by members of this so-called caravan who have attacked law enforcement personnel in Guatemala, Mexico and now the U.S.,” the CBP spokesperson said. She said that the agency “takes Sunday’s employment of use-of-force very seriously,” adding that the agency “reviews and evaluates all uses of force incidents to ensure compliance with policy.“
While CBP has said that some asylum seekers threw projectiles at Border Patrol agents, striking some personnel, the faction that rushed the border on Sunday represented a small group of the thousands of asylum seekers currently waiting in Mexican border town Tijuana to make their asylum claims at the U.S. border.
In a statement released by the Mexican government on Monday, Mexico’s interior ministry reported through the National Institute of Migration that 98 people were slated to be deported to their home countries in connection with “violent” behavior at the U.S.-Mexico border. Meanwhile, thousands of others face weeks, if not months of waiting in Tijuana to make their asylum claims in the U.S., with the San Ysidro Port of Entry only seeing around 100 claims or fewer processed each day.
HEY REMEMBER THE TIME THAT LASSIE FOUND OUT JULES AND SHAWN WERE DATING AND LASSIE SAID HE WOULD SHOOT SHAWN IF SHAWN DIDN’T TREAT JULES RIGHT BECAUSE I DO
You’re lying on the sofa under a blanket, lights dimmed, watching your favourite TV show. Your cat is laid across you, sleeping but purring quietly. All is calm. All is good.
but then out of the corner of your eye you spot him
shia labeouf
thats literally what im doing right now. where the fuck is he
the media will not acknowledge the presence of gay Christians who have chosen celibacy, or bi Christians who have chosen to renounce same-sex romantic relationships, entirely of their own volition.
according to the popular narrative, a queer Christian must have their sexuality fully affirmed and celebrated in a progressive church with the tagline “this is what REAL Christians act like!” if this is not affirmed, they must seethe and suffer and spend their whole existence trying to suppress any and all aspects of themselves they have been told are wicked, before ultimately exploding and leaving their church to be Free and Totally Themselves.
there is apparently no such thing as a Christian who chooses not to act on their desires out of love for the Lord, and is truly okay with it.
we don’t and can’t exist, because we don’t fit the narrative.
I’ve never been to conversion therapy- I actually loathe the very concept of it. I don’t hate myself. I’m not disgusted at my “bi-ness”. nobody pressured or forced me to make the decisions I’ve made.
I love the Lord. I’ve read the Scriptures. I know what they say. I’ve carefully weighed the alternate, more liberal interpretations, and found them lacking in hermeneutical integrity.
and so, because I love the Lord, and because I believe His Word, I willingly give up the possibility of ever having a romantic relationship with a woman. I actively fight against lusftul thoughts regarding both men and women – something every Christian should do anyway. and… it doesn’t tear me up inside. it’s not always an easy path, sure. sometimes I wish I could date whoever I want- and that doesn’t just include girls. but you know? I think Christ is better. I think He’s worth it. and this is the path I chose, out of love, and because He loves me. it’s that simple.
the thing that does truly eat me up inside? is the total unwillingness from both the media and a decent portion of the church to acknowledge that I exist. that we exist, our experiences exist. that my desires are what they are, and I don’t need to try to force them out of me, but I don’t need to act on them either. they are just desires. they are merely feelings. and my real identity isn’t in how I feel on any given day, it’s in Christ. nobody led me to that realization but Christ Himself, and it’s been a freeing andhealing revelation.
I’m here, and there are countless others like me. but.
we will not be represented in the news. there won’t be characters like us in movies or shows or books. we must be tortured souls raging against the throes of organized religion, or free to act as we please at any time. there is no room in the narrative for a picture of submission that isn’t terribly unhealthy. and we’re lucky if pastors know how to talk about us either, if they realize we exist at all.
there’s no room for us in the media. the Body of Christ struggles to make room.
but we’re here. whether anyone is comfortable with it or not.
i just realized how absolutely earth shatteringly horny the internet at large would be for darth vader if the original trilogy came out right now
my god, every facet of his character, the mask, he’s tall, he chokes people, he’s evil, good god it would be apocalyptic, this website would be fucking unusable
people are horny for kylo ren and he’s just an intentionally infinitely shittier version of darth vader who sucks fucking shit comparatively just imagine
so imagine Star Wars comes out now, everybody’s obviously drawing their fanon interpretation of Vader as hot brooding anime men so they can ship him with whomever of luke/leia/han they find personally most attractive. Empire comes around, darth is luke’s ****** (message me for spoilers!), everyone purges their Luke/Vader art and starts drawing him as a hot dad, slicked back salt-n-pepper hair and a chiseled jaw and shit
Obscure Fandoms 