California considering legal action over use of tear gas at southern border

California is considering if the state can take legal action over the Trump administration’s use of tear gas on a group of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. 

“We have been approached by folks who have expressed complaints,” California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday. “We are monitoring what’s occurring.”

{mosads}Reuters notes, however, that California has limited jurisdiction, because the federal government has large authority over border and immigration policies. 

But Becerra told the news outlet that California could have the authority to take legal action if a state resident was impacted by the Border Patrol agents’ use of force this past weekend. 

“I can’t act unless the rules are on our side,” Becerra, who is the son of Mexican immigrants, said. 

The comments come after tensions escalated as a band of thousands of Central American migrants reached the U.S.-Mexico border. 

Hundreds of individuals attempted to storm the border in Tijuana, Mexico, on Sunday. After some threw rocks and tried to breach a border fence, U.S. agents fired tear gas. 

The Associated Press reported that the tear gas traveled “hundreds of yards” and forced some parents to run away with “choking toddlers.”

The incident happened right after the U.S. suspended pedestrian crossings at the San Ysidro port of entry in California. 

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) leaders in San Diego have said that the use of force at the border is under internal review. 

President Trump has repeatedly voiced outrage over the band of migrants traveling to the U.S., and has threatened to shut down the border entirely to stop them from entering.