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Arizona Senator Mark Kelly visits the Yuma border

Senator Kelly most recently visited the border on May 20th

YUMA, Ariz. (KECY, KYMA) - Arizona Senator Mark Kelly is back at the border in Yuma.

He most recently toured the border on May 20th.

This visit comes following the Senator's announcement that the Department of Homeland Security will move forward on multiple wall construction projects in Yuma, closing gaps that have been problematic for law enforcement.

"It's going to make agents' jobs easier," Kelly said.

Senator Kelly also recently introduced legislation with Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema which would expand the Border Patrol and raise agent pay if signed into law.

The morning of Senator Kelly’s visit to Yuma, big groups of migrants continue to gather at the border wall.

Migrants in the Yuma Sector, August 10th 2022

Continuing to cross at the Cocopah Reservation, a few miles south of the gaps Senator Kelly is pushing to be closed.

Saying they crossed here because of the gaps in the wall, in hopes of finding a better life in the United States.

"There was a river we had to cross. Then we look for a part of the fence we don't have to go through. We hope they support venezuelan people, we are hard-working people," Daniel Sanchez, a Venezuelan asylum seeker said

But, it’s unlikely closing the gaps would deter migrants from crossing.

Due to Title 42, ports of entry are closed to migrants seeking asylum in the U.S.

Meaning they are pushed to illegally cross to make a legal asylum claim.

With other gaps like the seven miles of open border at the Cocopah reservation, and the majority of wall from Los Algodones down to San Luis being inside the actual border, closing the gaps is just one piece of the border security puzzle.

“The best approach of seeking asylum is going to a port of entry, that's where the process would work the best. Not walking through the desert, that’s not safe for anybody,” Kelly said.

Senator Kelly says contractors will be in Yuma over the next few weeks surveying the wall.

And that the first construction proposal will hopefully be approved by the end of September.

Yuma continues to be the third busiest of the nine border sectors in terms of total apprehensions.

You can watch a previously recorded livestream from the border below:

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Adam Klepp

Adam Klepp is excited to start his first job in the broadcast news industry as the FOX9 at 9 anchor and as a reporter at 5 and 6 on News 11.

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