Dozens of Casualties at US-Mexico Border

Over two dozen people received medical treatment after attempting to climb the 30-foot U.S.-Mexico border wall over the past week, emergency officials reported.

Over the weekend alone, eight migrants were treated on Saturday and another eight on Sunday. In the past week a total of 26 migrants who tried to "cut to the front of the line" by climbing the border wall were treated for their injuries, San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond told Fox 5/Kusi.

San Diego Fire-Rescue crews intervened to help ten migrants in need of treatment last Saturday, as reported by the news channel. The group included families, some with young children.

"In the past 16 days, [the number of] migrants just being dropped off at the Iris Avenue station is over 11,000," Desmond told Fox 5 on Sunday. "Since September that's about 108,000 people just dropped off here in the streets in San Diego County." Reporting the number on X, formerly known as Twitter, he described the situation as "unsustainable."

Migrant arrivals at the U.S.-Mexico border skyrocketed in 2023, reaching a record high at the end of the year, with the U.S. Border Patrol reporting nearly 250,000 encounters in December 2023. This increase, driven by pent-up demand during lockdown and a global climb in the number of migrants moving from poorer to richer countries, has so far proven to be a massive political headache for President Joe Biden as he runs for re-election.

In January, the CBP reported 176,205 total encounters at the Southwest border, with encounters involving single adults dropping by 35 percent and those with unaccompanied children sliding further by 37 percent. While the number of arrivals has decreased slightly in January, the issue of migration is expected to be front and center at the November election.

Newsweek contacted San Diego Fire-Rescue and CBP for comment by email early on Monday.

Desmond said that the surge of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border calls for a reform of the current system, which he said cannot properly handle the current number of arrivals.

"It's not a humane process, it's inhumane," he said on Sunday. "I think people should be able to immigrate to this country with dignity, come in with pride, with their heads held high, instead of coming in under a fence, over a fence, through a fence or unfortunately we've had people thrown over the fence or dropping over the fence and going to our hospitals."

On X, Desmond accused the current process of having people "jumping to the front of the line (unvetted) and putting those legally trying to come to the country at the back of the line. What's the point in coming here the legal way?" he wrote on the social media platform.

The migrants who illegally climbed the U.S.-Mexico border wall are processed by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and are later given a court date to plead their case for asylum. Before that, the migrants are dropped off at transit stations, where they decide to stay or go to another U.S. city.

According to data from the CBP, the U.S. Border Patrol conducted 245 rescues in January, for a total of 1,611 rescues in the 2024 fiscal year (which runs from October 1, 2023, to September 30, 2024) so far.

On its website, the agency urges anyone thinking of attempting "to circumvent lawful pathways to enter the United States" not to do it. "When noncitizens cross the border unlawfully, they put their lives in peril," the agency states.

Last year, 29 Mexican nationals died trying to cross the border into the U.S., according to data from the Mexican consulate, while another 120 were injured.