Broken bones, sprains and cuts: Yuma border agents see more fence-related injuries

YUMA — A 14-year-old Guatemalan teen traveling with her mother is recovering at a Phoenix hospital from several broken vertebrae after falling on Friday from the 18-foot-tall landing mat border fencing separating the U.S. from Mexico near the San Luis port of entry, officials said.

Agents stationed at Border Patrol's Yuma Sector said they've seen an increase in these types of injuries as mostly Central American migrants continue scaling border barriers, including a similar incident last week that resulted in a child suffering facial injuries.

Border Patrol released a minute-long video of last week's incident on Monday.

The images show the 14-year-old girl dropping to the ground after making it over the solid, Vietnam-era landing mat fencing. The girl lands hard on her back and is seen crawling away from the fence in pain, assisted by another woman. She then lays on the ground until border agents arrive a few minutes later.

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Shortly after, the video shows an unaccompanied 17-year-old girl coming over the fence and dropping to the ground, but she is unable to get up after hitting the ground. She injured her ankle in the fall, according to Border Patrol.

Yuma Sector spokesman Jose Garibay said the two teenage girls were part of a group of six Guatemalan migrants — two adults and four minors — who scaled the border fence on Friday afternoon about two miles east of the San Luis crossing.

Both teens were transported to a hospital in Yuma. The 17-year-old was treated and released, but the 14-year-old was later flown to Phoenix due to the severity of her back injuries. Garibay was unable to say whether the teen's mother was allowed to travel with her daughter to the hospital.

Increase in injuries

Vincent Dulesky, the special operations supervisor for Border Patrol in Yuma, told The Arizona Republic agents have seen an increase in fence-related injuries in the sector, which has seen a corresponding surge in the number of migrant families crossing illegally in order to seek asylum in the United States.

“We're seeing a ton of injuries. Anywhere from lacerations to broken legs, broken ankles, broken hips. These all require hospitalization.”

Vincent Dulesky, special operations supervisor for Border Patrol in Yuma

"When the smugglers force them to go over something they don't want to go over. They're going to get hurt eventually," he said. "We're seeing a ton of injuries. Anywhere from lacerations to broken legs, broken ankles, broken hips. These all require hospitalization."

Border Patrol tracks the number of fence-related injuries, but officials said they were not allowed to disclose those statistics at this time.

The agency encouraged asylum seekers to file their claims legally at ports of entry, even though many migrants face weeks-long waits at certain border crossings. Officials also have blamed smugglers for putting migrants' safety at risk.

Garibay said agents didn't apprehend any smuggler in connection to Friday's incident and injuries, which often is the case with those types of incidents.

"We're seeing that the smuggler is not apprehend given to the fact that they were not in the United States," he said. "They rely on the fact that we can't go to into Mexico. We have to rely on our Mexican counterparts to help us out."