The White House is completing more sections of former President Donald Trump’s border wall, with the Department of Homeland Security closing four gaps in the barrier near Yuma, Arizona, that have become a major migrant thoroughfare.
DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas authorized Customs and Border Protection on Thursday to seal the vents near Morelos Reservoir, just west of downtown Yuma.
The ministry said the area “presents safety risks and a danger to the lives of migrants trying to cross into the United States, where there is a risk of drowning and injuries from falls. This area also poses a risk to the life and safety of first responders and agents responding to incidents in this area.
The dam is located in a section of the border that runs north-south along the Colorado River before turning east-west at the California-Arizona state line.
Border agents have reported 235,230 encounters with migrants in the Yuma sector of the Border Patrol since Oct. 1 of last year. Only the Del Rio (326,177) and Rio Grande Valley (377,194) sectors reported more encounters during the same period.
One of the holes in the wall near Morelos Dam in Yuma, Arizona. AFP via Getty Images
President Biden ordered a halt to border wall construction shortly after taking office in January 2021. While the move was praised by liberal activists, it also left holes in the barrier that critics — including Biden’s fellow Democrats — say are were used by individual migrants and human traffickers smuggling groups of people across the border.
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) praised DHS on Thursday for filling the vacancies.
“For too long, the Morelos Dam area has been an operational challenge for Border Patrol agents to properly secure the border and keep our communities safe,” Kelly said in a statement.
Migrants climb into a drain at the Morelos Dam in April 2022. James Caveom
“I’m glad the Department of Homeland Security is listening to Arizona and will close these gaps,” Kelly added. “This is a step forward, and I will continue to work to ensure that Arizona has the necessary tools for a secure and orderly border process, including fences and barriers where it makes sense.”
Yuma Mayor Doug Nichols, a Republican, also welcomed the move, calling it “an important first step in containing this border crisis, supporting our law enforcement and keeping border communities safe.”
The project will be funded by DHS appropriations for fiscal year 2021 — which were approved during the Trump administration.
Border agents have reported 235,230 encounters with migrants in the Yuma sector of the Border Patrol since Oct. 1 of last year. James Caveom
Earlier this month, the department approved the construction of a similar boundary wall to replace a “deteriorating barrier” located near Friendship Transboundary Park in Imperial Beach, California.
In December of last year, Mayorkas authorized funding to close unfinished construction gaps that will “reveal the life, safety, environmental and restoration requirements for border barrier projects” in California, Arizona and Texas.
The move to close the openings in Yuma comes after a record number of migrants tried to cross into the US.
June was the fourth consecutive month in which border officials encountered more than 200,000 migrants (207,416). It also increased the total number of suspensions recorded since Oct. 1 to 1,746,119, the most for any fiscal year since 1960.
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