750 Migrants Apprehended in Arizona Desert in Two Days

Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended nearly 750 migrants in the southwest Arizona desert over the weekend. The migrants were mostly family units from Guatemala.

Agents assigned to the Yuma Station apprehended nearly 750 migrants who illegally crossed the border by walking through outdated border barriers. The migrants simply walked through the Colorado River vehicle barriers near Yuma, Arizona, and surrendered to agents, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials.

Agents identified 87 percent of the migrants as Guatemalan nationals. The remainders came to the U.S. from Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, and Mexico, officials stated. Many of the nearly 750 Central American migrant families required medical attention after completing the dangerous journey through Mexico.

“Yuma Sector agents provided medical treatment to 137 illegal aliens, either through medically certified agents, contract medical personnel at the stations or by transporting the subjects to local hospitals,” CBP officials said in a written statement. “Some of the medical ailments included: pregnancy complications, lacerations, blisters, respiratory issues, chicken pox, lice, and scabies.”

CBP officials reported that Yuma Sector witnessed a 230 percent spike in the apprehension of Family Unit Aliens (FMUA). The apprehension of Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) also jumped by 36 percent when compared to year-to-date numbers from the first five months of Fiscal Year 2018.

The desolate region that comprises the Yuma Sector is now the third busiest of the nine southwestern Border Patrol sectors, according to the February Southwest Border Migration Report. During the first five months of this fiscal year (which began October 1, 2018), Yuma Sector agents apprehended 17,578 FMUAs and 2,760 UACs. This is up from 5,319 FMUAs and 2,031 UACs during the same period in FY2018.

In February alone, Yuma Sector agents apprehended 3,614 migrants. Of those 2,624 were FMUAs and 430 were UACs. This works out to an average of nearly 130 migrants apprehended per day.

In the nation’s two busiest sectors, El Paso and Rio Grande Valley, agents apprehended an average of nearly 900 migrants per day, Breitbart News reported. This represents an increase of more than 570 percent over last February’s 132 daily average

“Smugglers and traffickers have caught on that the outdated laws, lack of resources, and bad court decisions effectively give them a ‘free ticket’ into America,” U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Neilsen told the House Homeland Security Committee last week. “Make no mistake: the problem is getting worse.”