SPECIAL REPORT: The Other Side of the Wall

FOX 9's Adam Klepp traveled across the border to get a look at the border crisis from Mexico

YUMA, Ariz. (KECY, KYMA) - Yuma, and the border wall, has become a popular destination for prominent government figures over the past several months. 

The Secretary of Homeland Security, Arizona's governor, and U.S. Senators, all recently visited Yuma amid record levels of crossings.

In fiscal year '21, Yuma sector border patrol had 114,000 encounters with crossers, not at official ports of entry. 

In the early months of fiscal year '22, Border Patrol told Fox 9 they were dealing with almost 1,000 crossers a day, triggering a local emergency declaration from Yuma Mayor Doug Nicholls.

Jose Durgarte, a Venezuelan immigrant, says his family is looking for a better life.

"Because of the economy, for my family that's in Venezuela, for the political situation that's going on and for everyone living in the country. The poverty. The misery. All of that,"  Durgarte said.

Politicians on both sides of the aisle say the situation is out of control. 

"As you can see, right here in real-time, this is a humanitarian crisis," Arizona Governor Doug Ducey said in a December 2021 visit to the Yuma border.

In 2022, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas became the first high-ranking member of the Biden administration to visit Yuma.

"Recent border crossers, fit in that border security category, they are an enforcement priority of ours,” Mayorkas said.

Mayorkas's visit to Yuma came with controversy, as leaked audio allowed the public to hear the moment a morning meeting with Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents became tense.

As more and more attention is put on Yuma nationally, much of the situation on the ground remains the same.

After months of viewing the crisis from the United States side of the wall, I decided to look at three popular spots for illegal crossings from within Mexico.  

On the other side of the Andrade Port of Entry is the Mexican border town of Los Algodones, nicknamed "Molar City" as it is mostly known for the hundreds of dentist offices it contains.

Now Los Algodones is on the map for a different reason, as just north of the town is the Morelos dam. In Mexico, from atop the dam, you can see the open gaps in the Yuma Sector border wall.

These openings are a popular spot for migrants to come into the Yuma Sector.

From the dam, I spotted what looks like a family with small children, walking under the dam and into the United States. They were promptly met by a Border Patrol agent and apprehended.

The department of homeland security says plans are in place to close the gaps in 2022.

Further south down Highway 2, I come west of County 14th, and the Cocopah Reservation, another hotspot for illegal crossings in the Yuma Sector.

Here from in Mexico I spot another small group of migrants, making their way to the United States through a date farm, and across the border on foot through a section of the Yuma Sector where there is no barrier, as it is sovereign tribal land.

My last stop is at the corner of the Arizona border, just west of San Luis, Mexico.

Unlike the Morelos Dam gaps, or the reservation, here, the border wall is complete. However it is not built along the actual border of the United States, but a few hundred feet inside of it. 

While the wall makes things difficult for those who don’t want to be caught by border patrol, non-citizens seeking to be apprehended simply walk up to it, and wait for authorities.

Here I spot the biggest group of migrants, around 50 all mostly single adult men. They are lined up by one Border Patrol agent, processed, and begin their asylum-seeking process.

The Yuma Sector, from fiscal year '20 to fiscal year '21, saw the biggest percentage increase in encounters with single adult men than any other sector of the U.S. southern border.

From the Morelos Dam gaps, to the wall-less reservation, and the border wall built inside the U.S. border, this 20-mile section of the U.S. / Mexico border in the Yuma Sector provides at least 3 unique scenarios for law enforcement and the U.S. Government, as they try and get the border crisis under control.