Yuma, Arizona, is fast becoming the newest hotspot among southwest Border Patrol Sectors in Fiscal Year 2022. In all, between Friday and Sunday, human smugglers moved more than 1,600 migrants into the area.

Most of the migrants are from Mexico and the Central American northern triangle countries of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. The remainder are from a host of nations including 13 from nations the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) considers “special interest.”

The DHS notes:

Generally, an SIA is a non-U.S. person who, based on an analysis of travel patterns, potentially poses a national security risk to the United States or its interests.  Often such individuals or groups are employing travel patterns known or evaluated to possibly have a nexus to terrorism.  DHS analysis includes an examination of travel patterns, points of origin, and/or travel segments that are tied to current assessments of national and international threat environments.

This classification is reserved for all nationals of that country and does not mean that all SIAs are terrorists. SIAs differ from those migrants DHS considers “Known and Suspected Terrorists” (KST) from the Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB), the U.S. Government’s consolidated database maintained by the Department of Justice.

As reported by Breitbart Texas, the Yuma Sector is facing a surge in migrant traffic compared to years past and is closing in on the Del Rio Sector. The source says that only a small minority of the migrants apprehended in Yuma are being expelled to Mexico under the Trump era Title 42 COVID-19 authority.

Of the more than 12,000 migrants apprehended in Yuma since October 1, a federal source says less than 600 were swiftly expelled to Mexico under the emergency order. More than 11,000 were processed under traditional legal pathways allowing the migrant family units and unaccompanied migrants to pursue asylum.

The source says most are released into the United States as they await the adjudication process.

Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol.  Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on Twitter @RandyClarkBBTX.