AZMEX I3 4-5-19

AZMEX I3 4 MAY 2019


Border Patrol says it's close to reaching 1 million migrant apprehensions in Southwest
by Holly Bock Friday, May 3rd 2019

https://kfoxtv.com/news/local/border-patrol-says-its-close-to-reaching-1-million-migrant-apprehensions-in-southwest

Border Patrol says it's close to reaching 1 million migrant apprehensions in Southwest<p>{/p}

EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14) — U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Border Patrol is seeing apprehension numbers skyrocket along the southern border.

In the month of March, CBP encountered over 103,000 people on the Southwestern border. This is an increase of 35% over February.

CBP said 30,000 of the border patrol apprehensions were single adults, 8,900 were unaccompanied children
and 53,000 were family units from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

Here at the El Paso sector alone CBP deals with nearly 930 apprehensions daily.

"That is a significantly a lot higher this year. We are seeing an increase of about over 600% increase in total apprehensions,"
Border Patrol Officer Frank Pino said.

Pino said people are coming from everywhere, trying to escape violence in their own countries.

"We have been seeing lately recently a huge number of Cubans and Brazilians that are also coming
and we're thinking maybe now with the crisis in Venezuela that we may even start seeing, even more, come and enter the United States," Pino said.

Border Patrol said its most recent challenge has been securing all areas, including tunnels.

"Since our manpower is so strained a lot of those areas, especially near the tunnels where normally there is an agent present in that area
to help deter or stop people from getting into the tunnels, we now have smugglers with access to them knowing that there's not an agent available.
It's visible and unfortunately the smugglers are going to start pushing these people to these dangerous tunnels and we know,
these tunnels, there are so many hazards down there," Pino said.
"That's just going to add another level of dangers that are out there that Border Patrol agents are having to face."

A new temporary tent facility was put up in northeast El Paso in hopes of bringing immigrants in to process them faster.

"We are hoping it will be able to offer that care that humanitarian side where we can quickly process people and get them turned over," Pino said.
"The capacity of the facility is 500 people total. Separated into four different pods
and it has areas for personal hygiene, processing, recreation, sleeping quarters and kitchen equipment.
This is not a long-term detention facility.
Our goal is to get people in there and get them processed and get them the care that they need and get the people out as quick as possible.
As mean as that might sound, the quicker we can get them processed and get these bodies out where they need to go, that's good."

Pino said if the number of apprehensions continue, the trend will reach unbelievable numbers.

"We are on track of the whole Southwest border to be pretty close to 1 million people
that has been apprehended that have crossed over the border illegally."

End



Border Patrol rescues stranded migrants west of Tucson
Paul Birmingham
4:00 pm
May 3, 2019

https://kvoa.com/news/2019/05/03/border-patrol-rescues-stranded-migrants-west-of-tucson/

TUCSON – U.S. Border Patrol agents have rescued a number of distressed migrants in the desert west of Tucson.

In the first incident at around 11:00 a.m. Thursday, agents rescued two people in a remote canyon in the Ajo Mountains.

A helicopter from the Pinal County Sheriff's Office was called to the scene,
and air-lifted a 35-year-old Honduran man to the hospital after he suffered a bone fracture.

A little later in the day, agents from the Three Points Station were able to locate two men
suffering from severe dehydration and mild hypothermia in the desert.

All those recused will now face federal immigration charges.

END