(NewsNation) — One man died and another was injured after falling from the international boundary fence last month near San Luis, Arizona along the southern border, Customs and Border Protection said Monday.
Both were Mexican citizens.
At around 11:10 p.m. June 22, CBP said, remote video surveillance system operators tracked four people climbing the fence by San Luis, so agents were dispatched there.
An agent who arrived to the scene saw a man lying face down and bleeding from his head on the concrete beneath the border fence.
The man was unconscious, according to the agent, but had a pulse. Emergency medical services were requested at 11:14 p.m.
While the unconscious man was being helped, another man fell from the fence, injuring his back and abdomen but remaining conscious.
The two wounded men were taken to Yuma Regional Medical Center. One succumbed to his injuries at the hospital and was declared dead by medical staff at 12:09 a.m. June 23. The other man is in stable condition, CBP said.
A third man seen stuck on top of the border fence was rescued by the fire department and taken into the custody of Border Patrol. A fourth man was arrested north of the wall.
CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility is now reviewing the incident. The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General was also notified.
Data provided to NewsNation by the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office shows that the number of undocumented individuals who died around the border fence doubled from 2021 to 2022, going up from 34 to 69. So far this year, 14 deaths have been recorded. In comparison, there were 16 undocumented individuals who died in the area in 2020.
Yuma County Sheriff’s Office Public Affairs Specialist Tania Pavlak said the agency keeps track of people who die from falling off the border fence, as well as those who die for other reasons, such as from heat exposure or other heat-related illnesses.
The Arizona Republic reports that San Luis paramedics saw a “significant increase” in the number of fence-related injuries after 30-foot bollard barriers went up under former President Donald Trump. Before, the barriers were between 18 and 22 feet.
According to the newspaper, the fence is lined with barbed wire at the top and bottom to discourage crossings, but the Yuma sector remains one of Border Patrol’s busiest.
This comes as a battle ensues over barriers along a different part of the southwest border. On Monday, the Justice Department sued Texas’ Republican Gov. Greg Abbott over a floating barrier that the state placed on the Rio Grande to stop migrants from crossing.
In its lawsuit, the Justice Department asks a court to force Texas to move the 1,000-foot line of orange buoys placed on the river.
The Biden administration says these buoys raise humanitarian and environmental concerns.
“President Biden’s border enforcement plan has led to the lowest levels of unlawful border crossings in over two years. Governor Abbott’s dangerous and unlawful actions are undermining that effective plan, making it hard for the men and women of Border Patrol to do their jobs of securing the border, and putting migrants and border agents in danger,” White House spokesperson Abdullah Hasan said.
Meanwhile, Abbott defended the buoys by saying Texas has a “sovereign” interest to protect its borders from Mexico, according to Border Report.
“Neither of us wants to see another death in the Rio Grande River. Yet your open-border policies encourage migrants to risk their lives by crossing illegally through the water, instead of safely and legally at a port of entry,” Abbott wrote in a letter Monday.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
