At least seven people were reportedly shot and injured in Yuma, Arizona, located just 10 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, Saturday night.
ABC News reported that police responded to a call just before 11 p.m. local time about an “aggravated assault” on South J Edward Drive.
Yuma police Lt. Craig Johnson told the outlet that seven people were transported to the hospital, and though officers didn’t have a suspect in custody, there was no credible ongoing threat to the community. Fox News Digital reached out to the Yuma Police Department by phone and email early Sunday seeking details on the shooting but did not hear back before publication.
The shooting unfolded at a time when the border city of just about 97,000 residents is dealing with a large influx of migrants surging across the border.
Aerial view of a fence at the US-Mexico border on May 13, 2023, in Yuma, Arizona. Border Patrol has been releasing migrants after Title 42 ended. (Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images)
Yuma Mayor Douglas Nicholls appeared on Fox News on Friday to sound the alarm that Border Patrol had begun releasing migrants onto the streets a day after Title 42 expired.
“Border Patrol in the Yuma sector has been near record number of interdictions. Yesterday was 1,550 people that they interdicted. They’re over capacity by a significant amount, and they are starting released onto the streets. So not releases to NGOs that can help them. Our NGOs are overwhelmed also. So they’re just releasing them onto the sidewalk essentially,” Nicholls told Fox News host Neil Cavuto. “We had 100 plus or minus this morning, and then this afternoon we’re looking at about another 150 in the area.”
Migrants at a transition facility after being released by Border Patrol in Yuma, Arizona, on Friday, May 12, 2023. Title 42 ended on Thursday. (Eric Thayer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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The mayor, a Republican, noted that FEMA has not been activated to deal with humanitarian needs of the influx of migrants. The same day, Nicholls sent a letter pleading for President Biden to declare a national emergency due to the migrant crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border to “protect American communities that are subject to detrimental impacts of the unfettered flow of migrants into this country.” The letter notes how the state of Arizona, Yuma County and other local cities have already declared states of emergency, though Biden has not.
Migrants who have been processed by Border Patrol and have been released are given assistance from the Regional Center for Border Health to relocate to areas outside of Yuma, on Friday, May 12, 2023, in Somerton, Arizona. (Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
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“Yuma, like many communities along the border, is subject to grave lack of federal government commitment to provide effective policy under current immigration laws,” Nicholls wrote. “We see the cost of illegal activity, as many migrants fall victim to cartels, who traffic both drugs and humans across the border and into the U.S. in dangerous and often deadly manners.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
