Political | Process

The surge has only grown in December, but the extent of it is unknown because U.S. Customs and Border Protection has yet to release apprehension numbers for the month.

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• On Dec. 9, Yuma Mayor Douglas Nicholls declared a state of emergency after 6,000 people were taken into custody by Border Patrol in five days, which is as many as were intercepted in an average month over the past 20 years.

• The Border Patrol’s three holding stations throughout the Yuma region are filled with people, as well as its outdoor tent, which has been brimming with occupants for months.

• Noncitizens arriving at the border are increasingly coming from countries further away than Central America, including Russia, Afghanistan, Georgia, Cuba, Brazil, and Haiti. Those detained in the tent sleep on the ground with no space between them.

• Disturbing photos obtained by the Washington Examiner show the misery wrought by a massive surge in illegal migration in western Arizona: thousands of people stranded in overcrowded makeshift facilities amid soaring COVID-19 infection rates and no sign things will get better anytime soon.

• Other people in custody are held outside, where temperatures usually surpass 60 degrees during the day but have plummeted down to near-freezing temperatures several nights this week. Migrants have used supplies on hand, including space blankets, to make shades above where they must sit outside.

• Yellow police tape is used to hold up the Mylar blankets. Nearby, hundreds of suitcases that people dragged across the border are stacked in a pile.

SOURCE: WASHINGTONEXAMINER