Children lowered over wall, border tensions, missing persons update
Catch up with some of this week's most controversial stories
IMPERIAL, Calif. (KYMA, KECY) - Governor Doug Ducey visited Yuma this week following a tour of the U.S./Mexico border. His visit comes one day after he issued a Declaration of Emergency for Arizona's southern border.
The declaration deploys 250 Arizona National Guard troops, as well as state troopers, to assist U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) and local law enforcement in keeping border communities safe.
Gov. Ducey called on the White House to handle both the humanitarian crisis and the border security issues. He said he and his delegation are not anti-immigrant, but they do oppose human traffickers and drug cartels.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection says in March alone it made more than 170,000 undocumented migrant apprehensions. That's a 15-year high. Nearly 19,000 of those apprehensions were unaccompanied children — more than four times the number of kids apprehended in March 2020.
Senators Krysten Sinema (D-AZ) and John Cornyn (R-TX) are teaming up to take aim at the crisis along the Southwestern border.
Both Senators touted the move as the first bi-partisan bi-cameral bill of it's kind to help border communities. It seeks to reduce the wait times for those seeking asylum.
Sen. Cornyn said there are currently 1.2 million immigration cases on a backlog. He elaborated, at the current rate, it would take more than two-years for an asylum seeker to see a judge.
An agricultural contractor, Orchel Krier, alleges the influx of undocumented immigrants costed him his usual stay at the El Centro Travelodge.
He frequently extends his booking, and was caught by surprise when hotel staff told him his reservation was no longer good, especially since he usually pays in advance to show his loyalty.
Krier suspects asylum seekers are filling all available space.
USBP apprehended a group of three adults and two children after human smugglers lowered them by rope down a 30-foot section of the border wall early Thursday morning.
Camera operators saw three smugglers provide a ladder to climb the fence on the Mexican side. The smugglers also provided a rope, and physically lowered each adult down the border wall into the U.S.
One child held onto the mother, while the other held onto one of the males being lowered down.
After more than a week, there is still no sighting of missing 16-year-old Cassandra Landeros, leading the Yuma County Sheriff's Office to turn to the public for help with their investigation.
Landeros was reported missing at 10:18 the morning of April 12. News 11 spoke with the mother, whom wishes to remain anonymous. She tells us her daughter has recently been struggling with school.
The morning of her disappearance, her room was blocked off with a large mirror in her room. The window, which is typically closed, according to the mother, was cracked open.
Attempts to call Landeros' phone have been unsuccessful.
The search for missing 40-year-old Maya Milette also continues in the desert between Imperial County and San Diego, even as police investigate clues closer to her Chula Vista home.
San Diego's CBS 8 reports a neighbor's surveillance camera caught the sound of eight loud bangs coming from Milette's Chula Vista home on the same day she disappeared.
Milette's sister was planning to divorce her husband. In fact, her sister submitted divorce papers to her attorney on the last day she was seen.
Monday on News 11's Early Edition, Wiley Jawhary talks to the family to get an update on their efforts and the case.
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 14.3% of Imperialites have been diagnosed with the coronavirus, while 17.3% of Yumans on average tested positive for COVID-19.
Both California and Arizona also hit vaccination milestones. Over 28 million vaccines have been administered in the Golden State. Whereas, Arizona surpassed 4.8 million coronavirus vaccinations.
