Lawmakers say border crisis isn’t over despite recent slowdown

Yuma's Sector Chief said apprehensions are down to 300 a day

YUMA, Ariz. (KECY, KYMA) - In areas of Yuma where there are gaps in the border wall, crossings have come down significantly.

Lawmakers continue to say the border crisis is far from finished.

Areas of the border that were constant gathering spots for migrants remained empty early Thursday morning.

Still, migrants are crossing the local border.

With Yuma's local sector chief saying numbers are at around 300 a day.

Yuma Mayor Doug Nicholls said these numbers are still historically high, but have provided relief for local border patrol.

“That’s allowed border patrol to reduce numbers in-house and provide capacity should there be another surge,” Nicholls said.

Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema was back on the border this week, this time in the Tucson Sector.

She was with Oklahoma Senator James Lankford who visited Yuma with her in January.

She believes the recent slowdown is part of the business of human smuggling.

“The criminal cartels want to bring in a manageable number of people every day. So the border protection agents are busy all day long processing these applications,” Sinema said.

Before the end of Title 42, Senator Lankford introduced legislation with Senator Sinema to boost border patrol staffing.

He said many more changes are needed in the U.S. immigration system.

“We need a higher threshold of what it means to get asylum, so we can get legitimate asylum seekers into the country faster, instead of the people using a loophole in the system and not going through the legal process," Lankford said.

Official May apprehension numbers will be released sometime in mid-June.