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As more and more families enter the country illegally, it costs the US Border Patrol more to pay for it.
Officers have apprehended 25,000 immigrants who were part of families in southwestern Arizona in the last six months and are expecting to spend four times as much money on food, on products for baby and on-site medical care in 2019, said a senior official at the Washington Examiner.
The Yuma area of the Border Patrol, one of the nine on the southern border, spent $ 300,000 in diapers, infant formula, food and basic medical care for people under its care during the year. year 2018.
As of March 31, midway through fiscal 2019, the sector had spent $ 600,000 for the same items and services. Industry spokesman Justin Kallinger is expected to reach $ 1.2 million by September 30.
Yuma saw the country's third-worst apprehensions among immigrants who had traveled to the United States with a family member at the same time last year.
Yuma City is the only one, along the international border, to have declared the state of emergency because of the surge, in part because it is smaller than the other two regions that have seen larger increases but have more government and non-government resources.
Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan announced earlier this month that 650 field officers were deployed in the heavily affected border patrol areas. Yuma recruited 50 additional officers, but Kallinger said the additional support of their 800 officers did not meet the other shortage: a lack of space in federal buildings.
The three border patrol posts in the region can accommodate 400 people, but have been pushed to 500 people in recent weeks. The agents of the region apprehend between 100 and 200 people a day – sometimes up to 350 people. They then have no way to keep people waiting for treatment and to undergo an initial medical assessment, usually within 72 hours of their arrest.
Kallinger said the Border Patrol released migrant families directly into the street or entrusted to local organizations, instead of entrusting them to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, because the sister agency does not have enough of them. space to hold people who will be released after 20 days.
Nearly 15 years ago, illegal immigration to the region experienced a dramatic rise similar to this one. However, Kallinger explained that the situation was different because they met adult men from Mexico treated in a quarter of the time when a child from Central America could be deported the same day.
"These people do not come from an adjacent country (Mexico or Canada), so we can not bring them back. Their cases must be resolved, "he said. "At some point, we can not keep them in our facilities."
Kallinger said the city of Yuma also faces a shortage of medical service providers.
"We only have one hospital and it has to serve the whole community, Yuma County. We have the snowbird season – our population ranges from 100,000 to 200,000 people. He doubles. Most of this age group still needs medical attention. Our emergency rooms [emergency rooms] are already stacked before we start with the illegal aliens we have to take to the hospital, "he said.
Last year, border police guards had to pay $ 700,000 in medical fees paid by local taxpayers. The agency assesses each person on site at the stations to avoid sending more people than needed to hospitals and emergency care centers for basic care.
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