BLAME IT ON TRUMP

Heightened Border Wall Linked to Rise in Serious Migrant Injuries

 

By Meghan Roos

Newsweek

April 29, 2022

 

 

The number of migrants who suffered serious injuries or died after falling from the U.S.-Mexico border wall in California increased after the wall was heightened, according to a new study by researchers at UC San Diego Health.

Amy Liepert, the medical director of acute care surgery at UC San Diego Health, said in a Friday press release that construction undertaken in recent years to heighten the border wall has not deterred migrants from attempting the climb.

"This is an unseen public health crisis happening right now and it has significantly affected major local health care providers in San Diego," Liepert said in the release.

The health costs associated with treating border wall-related fall injuries have also increased, researchers said. The study's findings were published Friday in JAMA Surgery.

The study focused on border wall-related falls that occurred in Southern California between January 2016 and December 2021. In 2017, former President Donald Trump decided to heighten and expand the existing border wall separating the U.S. from Mexico in an attempt to stem the flow of migrants entering the U.S. Many sections that had previously been 6 to 17 feet in height were replaced with 30-foot-high barriers. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said sections of the border wall construction project in San Diego were completed in 2019.

According to UC San Diego Health researchers, there were "significant increases" in the number of people injured after falling from the taller border wall starting in 2019. The number of serious injuries and deaths linked to border wall falls also increased.