SAN DIEGO — Border Patrol agents early this week found six people who suffered injuries after apparently falling from the U.S.-Mexico border wall during a foggy night, federal authorities said Tuesday.
Beginning Monday night, agents in San Diego responded to five incidents over an eight-hour period — all of them near the San Ysidro Port of Entry or the Otay Mesa Port of Entry, according to a statement from Special Operations Supervisor Tekae Michael.
The six people complained of injuries to the head, ankle, arm, leg, knee, back and elbow, the Border Patrol said.
The first incident happened Monday around 9:50 p.m., when agents found an injured man just north of the primary border fence and about a mile west of the Otay Mesa Port of Entry. Paramedics took the 24-year-old man to a hospital, according to the Border Patrol statement.
Later that night, shortly after 11 p.m., agents found several injured people near the secondary fence about a mile and a half west of the Otay Mesa Port of Entry. The people, all of whom were determined by federal agents to be in the U.S. illegally, were taken to a nearby Border Patrol station, Michael said.
A 24-year-old woman was taken to a hospital for treatment of possible head and ankle injuries.
Early Tuesday morning, just before 4:30 a.m., agents found a 29-year-old man and 40-year-old man near the secondary fence three-quarter miles west of the Otay Mesa border crossing. The younger man complained of injuries to his arm and elbow, while the older man complained of leg and knee pain.
Both men were taken to a hospital for further evaluation.
About 40 minutes later, federal agents found a 19-year-old man north of the primary border fence about 2 miles west of the Otay Mesa Port of Entry. He was taken to a hospital for further medical evaluation and treatment.
The last incident happened Tuesday morning, about 5;20 a.m., east of San Ysidro Port of Entry. Agents found a 21-year-old woman with a broken ankle. Paramedics took the woman to a hospital.
After the Trump administration raised the height of the border wall to 30 feet in 2019, it has become increasingly more dangerous for migrants who try to cross it, according to data from local trauma centers.
The number of migrants who have died or gotten injured after falling from the border wall rose sharply from 2019 to 2021, local doctors have said.
In 2021, at least 381 patients with injuries from border-wall falls were admitted to the two local trauma centers that receive the most border-wall patients. In 2018, there were 49 patients admitted for such injuries.
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