SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — With a winter storm approaching California, the Border Patrol’s San Diego Sector is reminding migrants of the dangers posed by inclement weather.
Forecasts call for heavy rains and low temperatures in the mountains in San Diego’s East County, where thousands of asylum-seekers have been crossing the border in recent months.
The Border Patrol is warning migrants about the likelihood of increased injuries, sickness, or even death to those who attempt to illegally enter the United States.
“Our message to migrants who are thinking of illegally crossing the border is this: do not put your lives at risk,” San Diego Sector Chief Patrol Agent Patricia McGurk-Daniel said in a statement. “Human smugglers only see you as a commodity they can profit from, not a human being.”
McGurk-Daniel described the weather conditions in the coming days as likely the “coldest days of the year.”
She also stated temperatures can fall drastically, especially at night, exposing migrants to freezing temperatures in the eastern portions of San Diego County.
She warned that smuggling organizations will continue to guide migrants through some of the county’s most arduous environments ignoring the effects of low temperatures such as physical and mental exhaustion, hypothermia, frostbite or even death.
“The smugglers do not care about you, they have abandoned others in the past and left numerous migrants to fend for themselves.”
In February 2020, three sisters who crossed the border illegally with a smuggler were abandoned in a remote area of the Laguna Mountains.
The three women ultimately died from cold weather exposure.
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