Experts in trauma centers along the border are worried about the rise of injuries since the federal government increased the size of barriers separating the United States from Mexico.
Injuries associated with falling off the border wall are unfortunately familiar to Pedro Rios.
He is the director of the American Friends Service Committee and helps give humanitarian aid to migrants waiting to be processed by Border Patrol. On a rare morning of quiet, he finds evidence of injury, spotting bloodied bandages on the ground next to the border wall.
“We don’t know when this happened. It looks fairly fresh. It certainly wasn’t here yesterday morning,” Rios said. “We can only guess what might have happened, whether it was a border fall injury or some other type of injury.”
Rios says he’s seen countless injuries since the barrier between the U.S. and Mexico was raised from 18 feet to 30 feet in 2019.
“Broken bones, to sprained ankles, to having banged their head against the metal bars of the border wall as they’re scaling it down,” he said. “They sometimes will use ropes, so they come with burn marks on their hands.”
At the beginning of March, almost a dozen people were hurt after falling from the taller fencing by the Tijuana River Valley, requiring multiple ambulances to rush them to the emergency room.
Jay Doucet, MD, is the chief trauma surgeon at UCSD Medical Center. He says that since the taller wall was built, he has been treating an unprecedented number of injuries caused by falling off it.
“In our trauma unit, it’s actually taking more than half of the beds and it’s also taking up a significant amount of surgery this week,” Doucet said. “Every day in the operating room we have typical 5-7 major cases, so that’s all extra burden being put on the trauma system to deal with it.”
Physicians at the University of California San Diego Health link the increase in injuries with the higher wall at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Their study found that the UC San Diego Health Trauma Center treated 42 cases in 2019 compared to 440 cases in 2023. Doucet says this year alone, they’ve already treated more than 72 cases caused by injuries from falling off the border wall — things like broken legs and spinal and brain injuries.
“The appearance of the wall was maybe designed to be intimidating and maybe it was thought to be un-climbable; well, neither of those things is true. The wall is quite climbable, a large number of people are climbing it. Unfortunately, a large number of people are also getting quite severely injured on it as well, and dying,” Doucet said. “It’s sad to see. It seems to be getting worse. It’s not really getting any better. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of sense behind it.”
Jim Desmond is on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors and has been visiting with migrants as they enter the U.S. He says those who get injured crossing the border illegally will still be processed by border patrol and then given a court date to plead their case for asylum. He describes this as “cutting to the front of the line.”
“Instead of coming across the border with broken bodies, they should be able to come across the border proud and holding their heads high and be welcomed in,” Desmond said.
Desmond says since September, border patrol has dropped off more than 100,000 migrants in the streets of San Diego. He believes the U.S. needs to start enforcing its own immigration laws.
“We’re not allowing immigration with dignity and we’re allowing people to defy our laws,” he said. “We are allowing people to jump ahead of that line, and that’s why we have this chaos at the border.”
For Rios, it’s important to aid anyone who passes through, even something as simple as boiling water for hot coffee and soup. He hopes to see the day when there are no more injuries.
“Ensuring that there are safe ways for people to arrive in countries that would be able to provide them asylum, including the U.S.” Rios said