EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) — A migrant woman died last November after she and two others fell from the border wall while being tied up together and landing on top of each other, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Tuesday.
The incident happened on the afternoon of Nov. 18, 2023, in Clint, Texas, about 7 miles from the Ysleta Port of Entry.
A border agent operating a Mobile Video Surveillance System alerted others after spotting an individual atop the wall and two others exiting the canal that runs parallel to the wall.
An agent from the Border Patrol’s Ysleta Station responded and said he observed the women fall from the wall and land on top of one another shortly after 3:30 p.m.
After requesting assistance from medics, the agent said he noticed that the women were tied together with a rope. The agent cut the rope and began treating the women.
According to a news release, the two surviving women told special agents with CPB’s Office of Professional Responsibility that their “guide” warned them that the Border Patrol was approaching as they were scaling the wall.
The women said they spotted the Border Patrol unit approaching and panicked. They said one of them climbed over the barrier with two others below her, causing them all to fall.
One of the women, only identified as a Mexican national, suffered significant head injuries and was unresponsive with no pulse, CBP said. She was declared dead at the scene at 8:35 p.m. Crews took one woman to University Medical Center and the other to Del Sol Medical Center in El Paso.
The results of an autopsy performed by the El Paso County Office of the Medical Examiner on Nov. 20 are pending.
Agents said they apprehended four male individuals in the immediate area.
The release said the incident is under review by CBP’s OPR, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, and the El Paso County Office of the Medical Examiner. The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General also was notified.
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