YUMA, Ariz. – A major border city is on the brink of collapse as the surge in immigrants under President Biden’s leadership strains food banks and hospitals and threatens food security, a Yuma official told Fox News.
“Policies need to be changed when you see an unprecedented number of people crossing the border that even exceeds what we’ve seen under any of the other presidents over the last 30 years,” Yuma County Supervisor Jonathan Lines told Fox News. “And they come because they said that Biden told them to come, that we have an open border.”
BORDER CITY ON BRINK AS MIGRANT SURGE CONTINUES, OVERWHELMING ITS RESOURCES. TO WATCH:
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“It will only get worse with Biden’s policies,” Lines said. “He needs to reevaluate.”
About 5 million migrants have crossed the southern border into the US since Biden took office, according to Customs and Border Protection. The Yuma Sector of the Border Patrol saw a 171% increase in migrant crossings between 2021 and 2022.
Meanwhile, 1.2 million illegal immigrants have escaped Border Patrol since Biden took office, CBP sources told Fox News on Sunday.
“The problem we’re anticipating right now is a couple of big waves coming,” Yuma resident and fifth-generation farmer Hank Auza told Fox News. “Yuma can’t take that. It will overwhelm the system here.”
El Paso, Texas, another border city, declared a state of emergency when thousands of migrants camped out on the streets during freezing temperatures in December. Many migrant shelters were over capacity, prompting the city to use the local airport as a temporary shelter.
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Lines, Auza and another Yuma farmer, Alex Muller, shared their concerns, starting with fears around food security, as agricultural production makes up a large part of the town’s economy.
“Our fields are monitored, audited and tested for different pathogens,” Muller said. “You can’t have people walking across the field.”
Auza said Yuma’s fields, which produce 93% of the nation’s leafy greens in the winter months, have faced a large amount of migratory traffic, risking damage to their crops due to disease. foodborne. He also said that many residents cannot get into the city’s only hospital.
“People have had a hard time getting into the hospital because the hospital has been so full of” illegal immigrants, Auza told Fox News.
WATCH A YUMA OFFICIAL EXPLAIN HOW THE BORDER CRISIS HAS STRESSED HIS COMMUNITY:
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In January, Biden made his first border trip to El Paso, Texas, and unveiled border enforcement actions that included Title 42 removals for some nationalities. While it was a step in the right direction, Biden needs to enact tougher immigration policies to address all of the border-related concerns in different areas, Lines told Fox News.
Immigrants have flooded into Yuma in record numbers in the past year, putting a strain on the city’s resources.
(Photo by Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images)
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Lines said Biden administration officials should visit Yuma to witness the specific challenges facing their community.
“I’ve invited them several times and would invite them again right now,” Lines said. “Please come and see for yourself.”
To hear more from border residents detailing the strain Biden’s immigration policies have placed on their town, click here.
