Local hospitals are reporting a spike in migrants needing medical attention after falling off the U.S.-Mexico border wall in the southern California region.
The UC San Diego Medical Center and Scripps Mercy Hospital collectively reported 629 falls severe enough from the 30-foot border wall to require a hospital visit in 2023, according to the San-Diego Union Tribune. This year, that figure has swollen to 993 falls, with more data for the year still left to report from the hospitals.
The rise in severe border wall falls marks a 58% increase from last year, with that percentage likely to increase once both hospitals report their total numbers for the year. These two Hillcrest hospitals offer trauma care for the roughly 30-mile stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border from Tecate to the Pacific Ocean, according to the Tribune.
The two facilities, together, are averaging over two border wall falls per day, roughly double the caseload that was observed in 2021, according to the Tribune. It’s not immediately clear why the number of falls is increasing in this region of the border, but one person who runs a non-profit organization that aids migrants in the area theorized it could be because Mexican authorities have cracked down on border enforcement farther east of the border line, forcing migrants to cross where there are more layers of border wall.
“That forced the migration routes to move both east and west,” Pedro Rios, director of the U.S.-Mexico Border Program by the American Friends Service Committee, stated to the Tribune. “My conclusion would be that this shift means that people are crossing in areas where there are more layers of border wall, which increases the possibility of injuries and deaths.”
Reports of migrants needing serious medical attention — or even dying — after attempting to climb the U.S.-Mexico border wall have been well documented over the years.
Two Turkish migrants in June broke their legs after falling off the wall at the California-Mexico border. Border Patrol footage released in July showed a Guatemalan woman shouting at the top of the border wall shortly before falling to her death at the California-Mexico border.
Former President Donald Trump declared a state of emergency in his first term in order to secure funding for border wall between the U.S. and Mexico, and the Republican has continued to make border enforcement a hallmark of his campaign as he seeks another term in office. Despite halting border wall construction immediately upon assuming office, the Biden-Harris administration has since reversed course and resumed border wall construction, and Vice President Kamala Harris has rebranded herself as more of a border hawk since launching her presidential campaign.
A spokesperson for the UC San Diego Medical Center and Scripps Mercy Hospital did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
