Unaccompanied children, fake asylum seekers, fentanyl bust, ‘War on Terror’ local veterans react
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IMPERIAL, Calif. (KYMA, KECY) - U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) stole the show this week with numerous incidents occurring along the infamous wall separating the United States and Mexico.
Earlier this month, agents rescued two young, Ecuadorian sisters after alleged human smugglers dropped them over a 14-foot-tall border fence in the New Mexico desert.
After being held in custody for 13 days, the sisters are closer to reuniting with their mother and father. Authorities confirmed that the girls are in good health, and have been in touch with their parents in New York.
USBP San Diego Sector caught a smuggler on video dropping a two-year-old from an 18-foot-high border wall, not even a month later.
Remote video surveillance observed the small child hanging from atop the wall and dropped to a person below. Agents were able to get to the scene quickly and arrested the group.
Further investigation revealed a smuggler had dropped the child into the arms of his father. Authorities also revealed that the father and son are from Ghana.
Days later, additional video surveillance captured a six-year-old boy illegally crossing the border near the Morelos Dam.
USBP Yuma Sector found the Guatemalan boy walking along the dam all by himself. The boy will be processed as an unaccompanied child under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act.
Large groups and unaccompanied children continue to cross the border every day illegally. Recently, agents also found two "fake families" seeking asylum in unrelated events.
In the first incident, an eight-year-old girl entered the U.S. with a 36-year-old man, who claimed to be her father. However, agents later determined she was an unaccompanied child after their stories didn't match. USBP says the man later admitted being a friend of the child's mother, who is in Brazil.
In the second, agents found a 14-year-old girl and a 40-year-old woman who claimed to be her mother. Authorities later discovered they were aunt and niece.
The two Romanian nationals entered the country together, but were separated under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act after the fraud was discovered.
USBP arrested two people from Brawley after officers found more than seven pounds of fentanyl in their car at the Highway 78 immigration checkpoint.
Agents sent the Dodge Dakota to secondary inspection after a canine alerted the vehicle. They found a leather jacket sleeve hidden under the vehicle's rear seat with a duct-taped package inside that contained over seven pounds of fentanyl, worth an estimated $76K.
After two decades of fighting, the President made it clear that all troops will come home by September 11th.
Local veteran and former sheriff candidate Mark Martinez looks back at the multi-generational war. The longest war the United States has ever been a part of.
“I didn't realize it'd been 20 years. And so we talk it's been 20 years of war,” expressed Martinez.
President Biden has made clear he wants to focus U.S. foreign policy on various threats from China and Russia. Along with the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Imperial and Yuma Counties respectively have populations of about 180,000 and 214,000 people.
With regard to those figures, approximately 14% of Imperialites have been diagnosed with the coronavirus, while 17% of Yumans on average tested positive for COVID-19.
Both California and Arizona also hit vaccination milestones. Over 25 million vaccines have been administered in the Golden State. Whereas, Arizona nears 4.5 million coronavirus vaccinations.
