“Our agents were being assaulted,” U.S. Border Patrol chief Carla Provost told Fox News on Monday. “A large group rushed the area and they were throwing rocks and bottles at my men and women, putting them in harm’s way, as well as other members of the caravan. We needed to disperse the group, and with that assaultive nature, it was imperative that we dispersed them from the area.”

Provost numbered the “migrant” caravan in the Tijuana area at 6,000, with about 1,000 participating in the assault. Department of Homeland Security boss Krystjen Neilsen had identified more than 500 criminals and said they used women and children as “human shields” in the assault. The violence did not bother Democrats, who preferred to target the Border Patrol’s response.

Hawaii Democrat Sen. Brian Schatz questioned whether the border patrol had deployed “chemical weapons” and demanded to know who gave the order. Democrats made no such demand when the administration of POTUS 44 deployed tear gas 26 times in 2012 and 27 times in 2013. In 2013, under the same administration, the Border Patrol used Pava Capasaicin, also known as pepper spray, a full 151 times. This willful ignorance was hardly the only lapse of Democrats and their media allies.

Many in the caravan doubtless want jobs but in the left’s default view the migrants are asylum seekers fleeing violence and persecution in their own countries. Even if those claims were legitimate, it does not follow that they should move to the United States.

As a glance at the map confirms, Honduras and El Salvador are close to Costa Rica and Panama, where the migrants could find safety. Mexico also offered asylum, which most migrants rejected. Organizers of this caravan, headed by Pueblo Sin Fronteras, aimed for the United States, but not just anywhere.

The closest border point from Honduras is the southern tip of Texas near Brownsville, 1667 kilometers from Honduras. The most distant point is the border region of Tijuana, Mexico, a full 3,652 kilometers and even farther by highway. Why would the migrants travel all that extra distance?

Tijuana borders California, a sanctuary state that welcomes and protects those violate who violate U.S. immigration law, even violent criminals. California gives illegals a host of benefits including public assistance and in-state tuition. When false-documented illegals get a driver’s license the DMV registers them to vote, and more than one million have been added to the voter rolls.

Democrats see the caravan as an addition to their imported electoral college, so they favor any challenge to U.S. sovereignty, even if it involves violence. And for the sin fronteras axis, border patrol agents are the ultimate villains.

In March of 1995 U.S. Border Patrol agent Luis Santiago fell to his death pursuing illegals. Voz Fronteriza, an officially recognized student publication at the University of California at San Diego, responded with “Death of a Migra Pig,” a page-one editorial that celebrated the death of Santiago and called for the killing of federal agents. As the piece said, “We’re glad this pig died, he deserved to die. All Migra pigs deserve death.”

The caravan’s criminal core believes likewise, and attacks border patrol agents with rocks and bottles, using women and children as shields. Some also breached the old border fence of metal landing mats. As Carla Provost said, that fence needs to be replaced “with a wall.”

Mexico reportedly deported 98 migrants and said it would deport 500. President Trump tweeted: “Mexico should move the flag waving Migrants, many of whom are stone cold criminals, back to their countries. Do it by plane, do it by bus, do it anyway you want, but they are NOT coming into the U.S.A. We will close the Border permanently if need be. Congress, fund the WALL.”

If Mexico fails to deport the migrants the president might also push for a broad no-go zone on the Mexican side. The administration could look into legal action against caravan organizers, and tie up their funding. Those who aid the caravans should be required to register as agents of a foreign government. That should include the Univision network and its mouthpiece Enrique Acevedo, who charges that any opposition to the migrants is racist.

For their part, the migrants have other options. Havana is only 1,135 kilometers from Honduras, and the Cuban mainland only 123 miles across the Yucatan straits from Mexico. In Cuba’s socialist economy everybody gets a job, and as Democrat Connecticut governor Dannel Malloy explains, “the best public health system in the Western Hemisphere is actually in Cuba, not the United States.”

Instead of attacking the U.S. Border Patrol, the migrants could fight for political and economic reforms in their own countries. That will never happen if the United States fails to control its own border. The rush is on to enter before it does.

As Carla Provost explained, a caravan of 6,000 is in Tijuana, another 2,000 in Mexicali, and “more on the way.” The caravans are Trojan horses for criminals, and the migrants are better described as unwelcome intruders.

A ballpark figure for those the United States should let in is zero. When violent criminals attempt to enter by force, the Border Patrol and U.S. military should repulse the assault by any means necessary.