Migrant rights advocate says there’s a solution to stop people from climbing the border wall
SOUTH BAY, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI) — On Saturday afternoon, authorities responded to 10 migrants who fell from the 30-foot U.S./Mexico Border wall while trying to enter the U.S.
Border Patrol agents and San Diego Fire-Rescue Department responded to the call of mass injuries, treating the 10 people, some with broken bones, and then took them to a local hospital for further treatment.
Ten injured after falling from border wall in San Diego County
“On March 2, 2024 at approximately 4 p.m., Border Patrol agents encountered 10 individuals in need of medical assistance near Imperial Beach, CA. The individuals complained of various injuries sustained during their illegal entry into the United States. Agents on scene immediately requested Emergency Medical Services (EMS) via USBP dispatch. EMS arrived on scene and transported all 10 individuals to local area hospitals for further care,” CBP said in an emailed statement to FOX 5/KUSI Monday afternoon.
“It’s not surprising considering that the layout of the border wall, the construction of it was meant as a deterrent, and part of that deterrent was using the idea that people would fall, would injure themselves,” Pedro Rios, Director of the migrant advocate group, American Friends Service Committee said.
4 migrants have died crossing Tijuana-San Diego border this year
Rios believes there is a solution to prevent people from climbing the wall to try to gain entry into the U.S. and seek asylum.
“The fix would be the U.S. Government respecting asylum, to make it so that people are able to approach a port of entry, make an asylum claim there,” Rios added.
In 2022, UCSD Health released a study showing there had been an “unprecedented increase” in the number of falls and trauma at the U.S./Mexico Border. The physicians at UCSD Health linked the increase in falls to the increased border wall height.
“Since 2019, there has been a five-time increase in the number of high-severity injuries occurring at the U.S.-Mexico border wall in Southern San Diego,” the study reads. “At UC San Diego Health, there were 67 cases of trauma-related incidents due to falls at the border wall from 2016 to 2019. The number jumped to 375 between 2019 and 2021. Fatalities also increased, zero before 2019 to 16 since then.”
As of the end of February, four migrants have died crossing the border so far in 2023.
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