California firefighters rescue three migrants who got stuck atop United States-Mexico border wall

This is the moment that three migrant men had to be rescued after they got stuck atop a 30ft United States-Mexico border wall in southern California.

The Mexican nationals had scaled the steel barrier in Tijuana, which was extended in height by Donald Trump during his presidency, but were unable to climb down. 

San Diego Fire-Rescue Department received a call for back up from U.S. Customs and Border Protection and dispatched a unit to the wall, just west of the Otay Mesa Port of Entry. Firefighters on the scene placed a ladder for the men to come down.

U.S. Border Patrol agents took the three Mexican migrants into custody for processing.

Three Mexican nationals required the aid of San Diego firefighters after the got stuck atop the steel fence at the United States-Mexico border on Monday morning. The three men were taken into custody by the U.S. Border Patrol

U.S. Customs and Border Protection alerted the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department for assistance to help bring down the three Mexican migrants from the top of the border wall

A Mexican migrant climbs down a stair after he and two other migrants, also from Mexico, got stuck about the 30 feet tall steel structure that divides Otay Mesa, California and Tijuana, Mexico

The fire department has dealt with an increase of rescued calls at the United States-Mexico border, according to NBC 7.

‘It’s a very common rescue that we have down here in [Otay Mesa],’ Cal Fire San Diego County Capt. Brett Bruno said, as quoted by the network. ‘They can get up in between the fences but they can’t get down on this side without causing significant injury.’

At least 375 migrants have been treated for serious injuries caused by falls off the border wall between 2019 and 2021 in San Diego County. In comparison, only 67 people were hurt in accidents between 2016 and 2019.

A recent study published in late April by UC San Diego Health, which has provided level 1 trauma treatment to the injured migrants, found that the injuries increased after former President Donald Trump issued an executive order on January 24, 2017 to increase the height of over 400 miles of the frontier in San Diego and Imperial Counties.

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At least 375 migrants have been treated for serious injuries caused by falls off the border wall between 2019 and 2021 in San Diego County.  In comparison, only 67 people were hurt in accidents between 2016 and 2019

The last of the three Mexican migrants who got stuck atop the border wall in Otay Mesa, California, on Monday climbs down a ladder that was set up by the fire department after border patrol agents were unable to rescue

A fire department unit provided assistance to border patrol officers at the United States-Mexico border in Otay Mesa, California, after three Mexican migrants found themselves stuck atop the steel barrier and unable to climb back down

The wall structure measured between six to 17 feet tall and was increased to 30 feet tall and was part of Trump’s campaign promise to cut down on migrants who unlawfully crossed from Mexico into California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

Trump visited a stretch of the Otay Mesa border wall in September 2019 and boasted that ‘maybe one of the greatest pole vaulters in history can get over the low one, but it’ll be very painful when they land.’

‘We had 20 mountain climbers,’ he said. ‘That’s all they do. They love to climb mountains. They can have it. Me, I don’t want to climb mountains, but they’re very good. Some of them are champions. And we gave them different prototypes of walls and this one was hardest to climb.’ 

Mark Morgan, who was the CBP acting commissioner at the time, hailed Trump’s wall ‘a game-changer.’

And to a point he was right. It was harder for migrants to cross over and also exposed them to serious injuries.  

‘The height increase of the border wall along the San Ysidro and El Centro sectors was touted as making the barrier ‘unclimbable’ but that has not stopped people from attempting to do with consequential results,’ wrote Dr. Amy Liepert, the UC San Diego Health medical director of acute care surgery.

The report found that migrants who fell from the new border wall suffered serious injuries to the brain, face and limbs. Many of the patients also required intensive care unit hospitalization and multiple surgeries.

The UC San Diego Health research study slammed the Trump administration for not taking into consideration the costs that medical facility incurred for treating migrants, who did not have health insurance and required longer hospital stays because they didn’t’ quality for treatment at rehabilitation centers or for therapy after they were discharged.

‘Additional capacity and associated costs were not accounted for in the federally appropriated funds to reinforce and heighten the border barrier system,’ Liepert said. ‘Hospital costs for border wall-injured immigrants at UC San Diego Health alone are estimated to be approximately $13 million between 2019 and 2021.’