Yuma remains in a local emergency as border issues continue

While visiting the border, FOX 9's Adam Klepp follows up with Mayor Nicholls one week after his emergency proclamation

YUMA, Ariz. (KECY, KYMA) - Yuma Mayor Doug Nicholls declared the local emergency last Thursday, December 9, due to the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The daily routine for Border Patrol goes on, picking up about a thousand asylum seekers a day.

Mayor Nicholls says the emergency remains in place, but some of the immediate issues caused by a surge the weekend prior have been resolved.

“There’s still a lot of activity on the border." Nicholls shared. "Some additional measures are in place like porta potties and water, but we are not having the long durations of people at the border."

He clarifies that levels are back down to what they were: about a thousand a day since Friday, October 1, before the surge that caused the local emergency declaration.

The mayor adds conversations with the White House continue, as well as visits to Yuma from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

"We have had the health side of DHS in town looking to see where they can engage,” Nicholls said. "We just need to make sure the urgency is still paramount so they can be in place should the need arise.”

Mayor Nicholls called a local emergency due to the border once before in 2019. His emergency declaration came after massive migrant caravans hit our border, leading to a similar influx with thousands of asylum seekers.

The emergency status was left in place for about six months.