Pedro Rios, American Friends Service Committeehas spent most mornings providing assistance to migrants waiting for immigration processing near the U.S.-Mexico border wall near San Ysidro.
Rios said he has seen countless injuries since the wall between the US and Mexico was raised from 18 feet to 30 feet in 2019, with migrants sometimes trying to scale the wall using makeshift ladders.
“Some of the injuries may be cuts and lacerations caused by the concertina wire. The injured suffer bruises from hurling body parts against the wall, or fractured limbs from falling from the border wall,” he said.
A local trauma center has linked wall climbing to an increase in migrant-related injuries.
2022, University of California, San Diego Health Published research A report on serious injuries at the US-Mexico border wall south of San Diego, which is expected to increase five-fold from 42 in 2019 to 440 in 2022.
“We’re seeing an increase. It’s still a pretty big increase,” said Dr. Joseph Ciacchi, a neurosurgeon at UC San Diego Health.
He said this has certainly put a strain on trauma centre capacity.
“This is a crisis. We have limited resources. We have limited hospital beds, we have limited providers, we have limited funding,” he said.
Scripps Mercy Hospital has treated more than 251 cases this year, but the numbers have been gradually declining since February.
Rios said a slight decrease is expected.
“Usually during the summer months there are fewer people because it’s hot,” he said.
Between January and May 2024, Border Patrol agents will 384,000 people.
“Last week, a 46-year-old woman fell from the border wall while attempting to cross the Otay Mountain Wilderness. She was severely injured in the fall and was unable to move. Fortunately, our agents were able to locate her and provide the rescue she desperately needed,” Border Patrol Agent Jeffrey Stalnaker said at a recent press conference.
Between May and December 2023, San Diego Fire Rescue will have approximately 3,500 Medical calls are coming in from border communities west of the San Ysidro port of entry, and Rios said the hope was that building a taller wall would reduce the number of people crossing the border, but it has only created new health problems.
“The increasing number of people arriving with life-changing injuries warrants serious consideration of building a border wall as a public health crisis,” he said.