Callous human traffickers are pushing migrants to scale the 30-foot wall on the U.S. border, resulting in hundreds of people seriously injured or killed by falls.
Nine immigrants died last year after falling from the U.S.-Mexico barrier at a single El Paso hospital, and another 326 were treated for often horrific injuries from falls of up to three stories, USA Today reported.
As of October of this year, another medical center in San Diego reported 345 traumatic injuries from falling walls, including 70 in October alone, an average of more than two per day.
The scene is repeated on the other side of the border.
“We noticed that starting in 2020 the numbers had increased,” Dr. Susan McLean, surgical director of the ICU at University Medical Center El Paso, told USA Today.
“It’s considered a public health issue,” McLean said. “It is a preventable problem with serious consequences.”
Customs and Border Protection officials are urging migrants to use alternative means to enter the U.S. to avoid border setbacks. New York Post An altar commemorating dead migrants, placed on the 30-foot wall that marks the border between the United States and Mexico. AFP via Getty Images
The casualties come as thousands of migrants continue to arrive at the border at the behest of greedy smugglers who deposit them on the Mexican side of the wall after often long and arduous journeys, leaving desperate migrants with no other option.
Once at the border wall, smugglers, often working quickly to avoid detection, typically throw a rope ladder over the wall on the Mexican side.
The immigrants have to climb up on their own, but there is nothing on the American side that allows them to jump to the ground. During this dangerous fall, most accidents occur.
“They don’t treat you like a queen,” a migrant who broke her foot told the media. “You have to climb.”
American hospitals along the border have seen a rise in the number of horrific injuries caused by migrants falling from the 30-foot border wall. James Keivom
No comprehensive lists are kept of the number of migrants who are injured or killed scaling the wall, and many injuries go unreported as those affected flee the scene, but data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows that In 2021 (the most recent data available) 19 migrants out of 151 deaths at the border died from falls.
In September, after a 30-year-old woman died after falling from a wall, authorities reported there had been a 162% increase in fatal falls over the past three years.
Hospital care on the US side for those who have suffered falls or other injuries at the border is important. According to the New York Times, the cost of treating immigrants at San Diego’s two trauma centers has increased from $11 million between 2016 and 2019 to $72 million between 2020 and June 2022.
The problem has led immigration officials to urge immigrants to find alternative paths to the United States.
“Crossing the border illegally is inherently dangerous,” customs officials said in a statement. “CBP urges migrants to seek legal avenues to enter the United States and not put their lives in the hands of human traffickers, whose priority is profit.”
The Biden administration scoffed at the border wall, but has since allocated $950 million to repair and expand it. New York Post
Former President Donald Trump, who commissioned the 30-foot barriers to replace an existing 18-foot version along parts of the border in 2019, once considered the wall “impassable.”
Joe Biden mocked the wall upon moving into the White House, saying it wouldn’t be built another foot during his administration. However, he has since done an about-face when the crisis at the border has become unsustainable for the administration.
Earlier this year, Biden relented and allocated $950 million to repair and fill gaps in the border wall, including commissioning a new stretch of barrier in Texas.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn