Falls of the border wall fall strongly with a change in military presence – San Diego Union -Tribune

The number of people seriously injured by the fall of the American border wall of Mexico County in the County of San Diego has dropped sharply since the Trump administration intensified the security measures, according to the two trauma hospitals that deal with these injuries.

UC San Diego Health said on Wednesday that it had treated 25 people for such falls so far this year. Among these, 22 took place in January and only two in February and one in March. A comparative count month per month for 2024 was not immediately available.

Health Scripps, which shares the tasks of border trauma, said it has treated 10 cases of border fall in January and zero in February, against 32 and 42 for the same months in 2024. The data was not yet available for March.

Border Falls had increased sharply after the Trump administration increased the height of the wall to 30 feet during the president’s first mandate.

A second term made an immediate declaration of a border national emergency on January 22, while the new administration deployed military units in the region and its threat of prices sparked a similar posture of the Mexican National Guard.

Climbing did not stop completely. On Tuesday, one person died and another was injured after falling from the wall west of the entrance port of San Ysidro, near Clearwater Way and Dairy Mart Road.

The two health organizations experienced a significant increase in trauma cases linked to the border wall last year.

Scripps recorded 524 falls in 2024, against 189 in 2023 and 239 in 2022. UC San Diego Health, whose researchers published for the first time an academic document on a significant increase in severe trauma injuries associated with the falls of the 30 -foot wall in 2022, saw an increase of 63% of the cases of trauma with a period of 18 73023 to June 2024. Ambulatory treatments manipulated during this period.

UC San Diego estimated that it had provided approximately $ 24 million in unpaid care during these 18 months.

The sudden decrease in tracks with significant drop reports in migrant asylum seekers gathering near the border. American statistics of the border patrol show a massive decrease in attempted crossings in its sector in San Diego. In February, Border Patrol reported 1,650 games, against 31,562 in February 2024.

Pedro Rios, director of the American border program managed by the Committee of Services for American Friends, a non -profit organization that helps people trapped between the parallel border walls in San Diego, said it was logical that a wider military presence dissuades climbing attempts, which are often orchestrated by human smuggling cartels operating in Mexico.

Less attempts to fall, he said, is a good thing given the injuries that migrants have suffered. However, he added that the prevention of ascents does not eliminate the demand to find a path in the United States by people around the world who seek to claim asylum.

“The number of sea passages has increased, and it seems that there are still people who go through much more remote regions where they do not necessarily have a lot of infrastructure to depend when they cross,” said Rios.

“It’s a good thing, I think, that people do not climb on the border wall simply because the possibility of falling and injuring themselves or dying is great,” he said. “However, this is a bad thing when people do not have a viable way to present themselves safely for an asylum assertion.”

Reclaimed from the drop in admissions to trauma to the hospital, the county supervisor and candidate for the Jim Desmond congress – who has long called for a stronger federal application on the border – said: “This proves that the president has always had the power to guarantee the border – no new bill has never been necessary. I am happy that our border is finally safer for our whole community.”

Originally published: April 2, 2025 at 5.25 p.m.