In Yuma, Border Patrol Braces for Heat-Related Border Crosser Deaths
The U.S. Border Patrol is preparing for record temperatures that will near 120 degrees Sunday in the southwest corner of the state. The Yuma Sector's rescue agents are working seven days a week now to prevent the deaths of people crossing the border illegally.
Five people who tried crossing the border illegally died in the past three weeks in the Yuma Sector. They include an entire group of four people that the Border Patrol’s Search Trauma and Rescue (BORSTAR) found in May.
This weekend, as temperatures in Yuma top 119 degrees, BORSTAR agents are positioning themselves east of Yuma near Wellton.
"We’re making sure that they’re working the areas that are known from past experiences to have these kinds of rescues," said BORSTAR supervisor Casey Roloff.
Since October, the Border Patrol has rescued more than 800 people in both the Yuma and Tucson Sectors. At least 33 people who tried crossing the border illegally have died in southern Arizona since then. Those include the five who died in the Yuma Sector and 28 who've been found in the Tucson Sector.
