SAN DIEGO — As the migration crisis grows at our southern border, border agents say search and rescue operations are growing too.
Border agents tasked with search and rescue missions say the dangerous journey into the United States only gets more treacherous during the hot summer months.
There are 41 Border Patrol Search Trauma and Rescue agents in the San Diego sector. According to them, the summer months are the deadliest for those crossing the border illegally.
On Tuesday, a rescue happened at the same time Customs Border Patrol Search, Trauma and Rescue, known as BORSTAR, held a news conference about its border safety initiative.
“It is pretty ironic as we are speaking there is a rescue going on and that is pretty much every day – an everyday occurrence,” said Jose Molina, BORSTAR supervisor.
Miguel Peña, a CBP BORSTAR paramedic said, “people typically pick the most extreme routes believing if they take those routes it is not going to be patrolled.”
Interim CBP Chief, Douglas Harrison, for the San Diego sector said since October, agents have assessed more children.
“BORSTAR had rendered aid to 129 patients just here in San Diego, recovered three bodies and medically screened over 4,000 juveniles in our custody,” said Harrison.
Peña said responses can be for migrants crossing 100 yards into Imperial Beach or 10 miles over the Otay Mountains.
“I had this guy who had been traveling for two hours was already drinking his own urine to keep hydrated,” he said.
CBP plays public service announcements in holding cells to spread the word about the dangers. In Tuesday’s rescue, a woman with a leg injury was airlifted by Cal Fire Air and four others were processed.
CBP would not comment on the 15,000 Mexican troops sent to the border to deter migrants from crossing illegally.