As monsoon season heats up, sending temperatures through the roof, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents say transnational criminal organizations continue to recklessly endanger the lives of individuals they smuggle across difficult terrain for their own financial gain.
This weekend, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Air and Marine Operations (AMO) UH-60 aircrews rescued 5 migrants trapped in the scorching hot and rugged terrain.
According to CBP, on Friday afternoon, a Tucson Air Branch Black Hawk aircrew responded to an air support request from Douglas Station Horse Patrol Agents for a group of migrants who were experiencing heat exhaustion. The aircrew was joined by three members of Tucson Sector’s Border Patrol Search Trauma and Rescue (BORSTAR) Unit; one of which was a Paramedic. The first migrant was unresponsive and seizing. After inserting two AMO Rescue Specialists to clear a landing zone, the migrant was loaded onto the aircraft and flown to an awaiting air ambulance. A second migrant suffering from heat exhaustion and delirious was then lifted to an awaiting Douglas Fire crew who also responded. The third migrant was unable to walk, necessitating the individual to be raised into the aircraft via hoist along with an AMO Rescue Specialist. The migrant was also flown to awaiting Douglas Fire Department personnel for transport by ground ambulance.
Then on Sunday evening, an air support request resulted in a Tucson Air Branch aircrew crew being dispatched to the Peloncillo Mountain Range in northeast Cochise County near the Arizona/New Mexico border. After finding an acceptable landing zone in the harsh/steep mountainous terrain, the first migrant was loaded along with a member of the Douglas Horse Patrol Unit. The migrant was airlifted to an awaiting air ambulance. The aircrew returned to retrieve the second migrant who was taken to a waiting ground ambulance for transport to the same hospital in Sierra Vista. The horse Patrol Unit member was flown back to the rest of his team, to walk the remaining seven migrants in the group to awaiting transportation to the station for processing.
“Our aircrews are trained and capable of rapidly shifting from operational missions to humanitarian roles,” stated Jessie Scruggs, Director of Air and Marine Operations, Tucson Air Branch. “These two incidents represent what our aircrews are called to assist agents on the ground who encounter the growing number of migrants who become distressed by the unrelentless conditions they are placed in by callous smugglers.”