Yuma Field Hearing Exposes Biden Failures
Phoenix, AZ—The House Judiciary Committee convened a field hearing this afternoon to learn about the community impact of President Biden’s failed border policies on Yuma, AZ. Border Security Alliance Chairman Jonathan Lines joined Yuma County Sheriff Leon Wilmot and Yuma Regional Medical Center President and CEO Dr. Robert Trenschel to explain the various impacts of the ongoing border crisis in the Yuma sector.
“Since the first days of this Administration, we have seen a significant deterioration in border security despite a massive effort from men and women who have been working tirelessly to secure the border to safeguard our national security,” said Lines during his testimony. “Since President Biden took office, we saw a huge surge--a record number of people crossing the border illegally from 106 different countries, 17 of those countries are what is designated “special interest” because of the negative relationships with the United States and it has steadily continued these many months. Along with the illegal entry into the US across an open border the increase in the trafficking of narcotics. Both human trafficking and drug trafficking remain at an all-time high, significantly greater than under any other administration in our history.”
“In addition to the known ‘give-ups’ we are extremely concerned about the backgrounds and intentions of the ‘got-aways’ --those people who evade Law Enforcement, entering the United States illegally who are not willing to give themselves into the custody of Border Patrol officers for processing,” Lines continued. “There are estimated to be more than 1 million of those entries since President Biden took office.”
Highlights from the Hearing:
Although the average number of people who entered illegally across this Yuma sector is down to 2,000/week from a prior 5,000-6,000/week, and yet at the same time, fentanyl and methamphetamine and cocaine seizures were up between 200-400 percent because the men and women in uniform were able to direct their attention and efforts to border security and national security.
Yuma’s population is 100,000. The number of migrants crossing the border is 3 times the population of Yuma.
Yuma Regional Medical Center is the only acute care hospital in the area, there is no option to divert care to another facility.
Many of these migrants who come to the hospital are very sick with chronic diseases or are maternity patients with little to no prenatal care; this requires specialized care which is costly.
This has resulted in delayed care to Yuma residents including those who have scheduled surgeries and other procedures due to capacity challenges. Other medical issues require medical transport to Phoenix.
Each migrant requires 3 times the amount of human resources cost to provide a safe medical discharge (this includes contacting family, emergency transportation, hotel rooms, car seats, durable medical equipment, etc.)
This has resulted in $26M in uncompensated care in a 12-month period; not a sustainable business model to have one hospital bare the entire cost for migrant healthcare.
The $26M is equivalent to the pay and benefits of 200 nurses per year.
There were 28,000 known got aways last fiscal year in Yuma; 5,000 so far this fiscal year.
Biological waste being left by those crossing the river illegally harming ecological wildlife.
Sadly, 700+ deaths along the border were investigated by local law enforcement.
There were 750 emergency calls from migrants in the remote desert needing rescue.
“This field hearing brought to light the broad and extensive community impact of the border crisis,” said Jobe Dickinson, President of the Border Security Alliance. “We are weeks away from the expiration of Title 42 and there is no plan from the Biden Administration to mitigate to anticipated surge in border crossings or provide additional resources for border patrol. Our local communities can no longer afford to manage and pay for the border crisis. The federal government must act in the coming weeks.”
The archived video of the hearing can be accessed here.
