US border patrol and other agencies are sounding the alarm over the security and safety of migrants. The agencies came together, at the u.s. Mexico border to shed some light on just how many emergencies they respond to and their efforts to mitigate the impact of those emergencies.
Reports from the area show that as the border security fence grew taller- the trauma causes have risen.
In 2022 there have been over 5,000 rescues, mainly of migrants trying to reach the US and that includes those coming in both by land and sea.
The message from border patrol and the other agencies is simple: Don’t put your life on the line!
Agents with the US.border patrol in the San Diego sector were joined by the search trauma and Rescue Unit and a general Consul of Mexico to address the Safety and Security of migrants, who they say are unprepared for the climate and tough terrain in their attempts to reach the US.
Border Patrol has seen a dramatic rise in 911 calls. And in 2022 there have been over 5,000 rescues and nearly 500 humans in Coastal waterways. The agency says so far, 25 deaths have been reported in their sector of the border, which is the busiest in the Nation.
Technology is also responsible for more than 50% of drug seizures, including opioids, and methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin – and the agency says they expect all of these numbers to rise.
” We want to get the message out to the community. If you have family members, who are trying to come across and you’re in the United States already. You know, make sure that they understand the risk associated with coming in, it is not worth your life, to climb that fence. Because you do not know what will happen,” one border patrol agent told the media.
They will also be installing a new technology that allows migrants to press a button if they’re in need of any help.
BorderReport.com covered the story as well and reported:
The San Diego Sector stretches 60 miles east from the ocean over mountains and high desert.
“Whether it’s a wall, it’s the ocean, desert terrain or the mountains where frigid temperatures can drop and people can get hypothermia, smugglers will continue to push their commodities through,” McGurk-Daniel said.
CBP said soon, warning signs will be placed along the border barrier warning migrants about the dangers of jumping over the wall.
Right now, four rescue beacons are in place in hard-to-reach spaces along the border where migrants have been known to get lost or stranded.
“These rescue beacons are equipped with 30-foot towers with strobe lights that can be seen day or night,” said Assistant Chief Patrol Agent Orlando Romero. “They have solar panels to keep electrical components always charged and operational, they have signs in both English and Spanish, other languages are coming for easy to follow instructions and buttons they will press to initiate search and rescue response.”
Also in attendance was Mexico’s Consul General in San Diego, Carlos González Gutiérrez.
“Eight out of 10 persons injured have nothing to do with mountains, deserts, they have to do with the walls and failed attempts to cross them,” he said.
The Consul General said Mexico, at the state and local levels, is working to educate and promote campaigns warning migrants to avoid scaling the walls when trying to cross into the U.S.
Doctors found that the increase in admissions of border-wall patients was still significant when they controlled for changes in the number of border crossings.
In 2016, for example, UC San Diego Health admitted border-wall injury patients at a rate of about 49 people per 100,000 local Border Patrol apprehensions. By 2021, that rate grew to about 449 people per 100,000 apprehensions.
They also found that the severity of injuries, length of stay and cost of care had gone up significantly. And, for the first time, some of the people admitted with injuries from falling off the border barrier died.
Dr. Vishal Bansal, director of trauma surgery at Scripps Health, said that the change seen at his hospital has been astounding.
“It absolutely hasn’t tapered off,” Bansal said. “It’s getting worse.”