Eleven people were hurt Saturday after falling from a border fence by the Tijuana River Valley, the latest in a rising tide of injuries since the federal government increased the size of barriers separating the United States from Mexico.
The Border Patrol alerted San Diego’s fire department about the falls around 4 p.m., Battalion Chief Matt Nilsen said.
The call came from 1280 Monument Road, less than a mile from Mexico. Ten people were taken to hospitals with “minor to moderate” injuries, according to Nilsen. Nobody appeared to be in critical condition.
The falls came just days after a man died trying to cross the fence in an area west of the Otay Mesa Port of Entry. He was believed to be in his late 20s and with a small group of people trying to cross over from Mexico.
Joseph Ciacci, a neurosurgeon at UC San Diego Health, previously said he’s seen a fivefold increase in trauma cases since the wall height increased.
“It’s pretty striking,” he said.
In 2019, the Trump administration began replacing the region’s barriers with taller, 30-foot bollard-style fencing.
While UC San Diego Health treated fewer than 60 patients that year who’d fallen from border walls, the total had jumped to nearly 450 two years later.
Twenty-nine Mexican nationals died in 2023 while trying to cross into the San Diego region, according to data from Mexico’s consulate. Another 120 were hurt.
Drowning and dehydration were also threats.
Last year’s numbers were actually an improvement over 2022, when 42 nationals died and 124 were injured.
Staff writers Alexandra Mendoza and Teri Figueroa contributed to this report.
