SAN DIEGO — Healthcare workers across San Diego County are all too familiar with treating a common incident at the U.S.-Mexico border wall - injuries from climbing and falling off the towering barrier.
"They're not with their families anymore, and now they have this severe injury that they can't even get up and walk from," said Dr. Tenorio, who witnessed the consequences first-hand.
A shot at a "better life" in the United States could leave migrants seriously injured or dead due to their attempt at scaling the wall.
Dr. Tenorio is a neurosurgeon inside a major trauma center who witnessed debilitating injuries and some people even paralyzed from their venture over the U.S.-Mexico border wall.
Due to the new height of the border wall, there have been a record number of traumatic injuries, straining medical care resources at local hospitals in San Diego, according to Dr. Tenorio.
"Many of them can't walk afterward, even after we treat them right. So once their spinal cord is damaged, many have very menial or no recovery. So that leaves them unable to walk," Dr. Tenorio said.
In 2017, Former President Donald Trump and his administration raised sections of the border wall in San Diego, Arizona, and Texas to as high as 30 feet.
By 2019, the number of high-severity injuries at the border wall increased five-fold.
"We do have preliminary data from this past year, and the trend is only getting worse," Dr. Tenorio said.
Physicians hope that by speaking out about the issues, officials will prioritize the crises happening at the border.
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