“Migrants approaching the U.S. border from Mexico were enveloped with tear gas Sunday after a few tried to breach the fence separating the two countries,” Politico reports.

“U.S. agents shot the gas… Children were screaming and coughing in the mayhem.”

New York Times: “A peaceful march by Central American migrants waiting at the southwestern United States border veered out of control on Sunday afternoon, as hundreds of people tried to evade a Mexican police blockade and run toward a giant border crossing into California.”

“The Trump administration has won the support of Mexico’s incoming government for a plan to remake U.S. border policy by requiring asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their claims move through U.S. courts,” the Washington Post reports.

“The agreement would break with long-standing asylum rules and place a formidable new barrier in the path of Central American migrants attempting to reach the United States and escape poverty and violence. By reaching the accord, the Trump administration has also overcome Mexico’s historic reticence to deepen cooperation with the United States on an issue widely seen here as America’s problem.”

President Trump on Thursday threatened to close off the southern border, saying he would “close entry into the country” if immigration gets “uncontrollable,” The Hill reports.

Said Trump: “If we find that it gets to a level where we’re going to lose control or 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.”

“President Trump this week presided over an explosive meeting on a new Cabinet order granting the troops deployed at the southern border the right to use lethal force to defend border patrol agents,” Politico reports.

“Several White House aides and external advisers who have supported the president’s hawkish immigration agenda attended the Monday meeting, which devolved into a melee pitting two of Trump’s embattled aides, White House chief of staff John Kelly and Department of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, against other attendees.”

“Central Americans who arrive at U.S. border crossings seeking asylum in the United States will have to wait in Mexico while their claims are processed under sweeping new measures the Trump administration is preparing to implement,” the Washington Post reports.

“According to DHS memos obtained by The Washington Post on Wednesday, Central American asylum seekers who cannot establish a “reasonable fear” of persecution in Mexico will not be allowed to enter the United States and would be turned around at the border.”

The Department of Homeland Security is paying undercover informants to gather intelligence from the migrant caravan by monitoring their text-message conversations as they travel toward the U.S. border, NBC News reports.

Politico: “Meanwhile, the caravans of thousands of Central Americans continue moving north through Mexico — unblocked by either Trump’s Nov. 9 asylum proclamation or the deployments of U.S. troops whose main duties have included placing concertina wire and other barriers at ports of entry.”

“A federal judge barred the Trump administration on Monday from refusing asylum to immigrants who cross the southern border illegally,” the AP reports.

“U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar issued a temporary restraining order after hearing arguments in San Francisco. The request was made by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights, which quickly sued after President Trump issued the ban this month in response to the caravans of migrants that have started to arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border.”

“The Pentagon is set to begin a drawdown of its 5,800 troops from the Southwest border as early as this week, the Army commander overseeing the mission told Politico today — even as the approaching caravan of refugees prompted U.S. customs officers to close a port of entry near Tijuana, Mexico.”

“All the active-duty troops that President Trump ordered sent to the border before the midterm elections should be home by Christmas.”

“A majority of Americans say a caravan of migrants now approaching the nation’s southern border poses at least a minor threat to the country,” according to the Monmouth University Poll.

“At the same time, 7-in-10 say that these migrants should be given the opportunity to enter the country if they meet certain requirements. Half are disinclined to believe that terrorists are traveling with the caravan, although 1-in-4 seem fairly certain that those claims are true.”

Washington Post: “Some Democrats are pushing the idea of a new comprehensive immigration plan akin to bipartisan legislation that foundered five years ago. Others want to focus attention on the narrower goal of granting legal status to undocumented immigrants known as ‘dreamers,’ who have lived in the country illegally since they were children and whose cause is broadly popular with the public.”

“But the boldest, and most controversial, Democratic rebuttal to Trump’s bumper-sticker sloganeering has come from progressive newcomers, most prominently Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who swept to victory behind calls to “abolish ICE” — the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, with 20,000 employees — over perceived abuses.”

“The number of undocumented immigrant children in government custody has topped 14,000 for the first time, a rise that shows no signs of slowing as the Trump administration enforces policies that are keeping them in government facilities longer,” the San Francisco Chronicle reports.