UPDATE: Yuma Mayor Doug Nicholls’ local emergency proclamation
FOX9's Adam Klepp spoke with the county supervisor, and a local fire chief on the strain the migrant crisis has placed on local resources
YUMA, Ariz. (KECY, KYMA) - We're continuing to follow Yuma Mayor Doug Nicholls' emergency proclamation along the border.
Border Patrol tells FOX 9 that 48,000 people have crossed through the Yuma Sector since October 1st.
That’s half the population of Yuma county, and an over 8,000% increase from the number at this time last year, which was under a thousand.
Mayor Nicholls says he needed to issue the emergency proclamation now, to get more resources to the yuma sector.
“That extreme level of proclamation, really opens doors,” Nicholls said.
Due to his local emergency proclamation, he was able to speak with members of the Biden Administration about the high levels of crossings recently in the Yuma Sector.
County Supervisor Jonathan Lines says the proclamation was necessary because Border Patrol became stretched thin, as thousands of migrants came across the border this weekend.
“It overwhelmed their ability to process these people, and get them out of Yuma,” Lines said.
The high levels of crossings have been happening for months.
Mayor Nicholls said one of the reasons that brought him to issue the local emergency now was migrants venturing away from the wall, and into the community.
“It wasn’t containable within the federal process, it became outside where people began moving through the community and impacting resources,” Nicholls said.
One of those resources is the Somerton Cocopah Fire Department.
Fire Chief Paul De Anda says they’ve been receiving emergency calls from the migrants themselves.
“It’s a modern society, everyone has a smartphone, they know how to dial 9-1-1," De Anda said.
De Anda stressed that the current level of crossings has not yet affected their ability to respond to emergency calls from locals, but it is an extra strain on the department.
“The pressure it puts on us is when we’re over there, we’re not here, we have two ambulances here, and that’s our squad, and we’re out there, it leaves us with limited resources in town,” De Anda said.
Still, no specific word on when the Remain in Mexico policy could be strictly enforced in Yuma, as it currently is only in El Paso, Texas.
County Supervisor Lines says next week, more than 100 border patrol agents are being moved to the Yuma Sector to assist with the influx.
