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Migrant Family Border Crossings Up at Arizona Border Despite Family Separation

Up to 30 families a day crossed the border in the Yuma sector in June.

The Border Patrol’s Yuma Sector along Arizona and California’s southern border has seen a 120 percent increase in families crossing the border since last year, with up to 30 families per day attempting to cross the border in June. The Associated Press reports that the increase, particularly this summer, happened in spite of the family separation threat that loomed as the policy did not deter migrant families and unaccompanied children from taking the trip. The Yuma Sector, which has been relatively quiet for the previous decade, saw “nearly 10,000 families and 4,500 unaccompanied children” apprehended by Border Patrol during this fiscal year, making it the second-busiest area for family border crossings next to the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. Authorities say that many Guatemalans brave the extreme Arizona-area summer heat to pass through the Yuma route, and claim that many simply walk or swim through a canal to U.S. soil and wait to be arrested in large groups. A shelter along the Mexican side of the border serving migrant and deported immigrants also experienced an increase in visitors, from 1,000 a month in 2017 to 2,000 a month in 2018.