Tuesday 13 September 2022 09:26 PM Yuma, Arizona has seen nearly 250,000 migrants cross into city of 100,000 in ... trends now
Yuma is known as the 'sunniest city on Earth' but it is now experiencing a drop in tourism thanks to the migrant crisis, DailyMail.com has learned
It's known as the 'sunniest city on Earth', the winter lettuce capital of the USA, and the inspiration for 2007 western film 3:10 to Yuma – but in the last year, the small Arizona town of Yuma has become as famous for migrants as it is for movies.
Over the past 12 months, almost 250,000 people have flooded into the city of 100,000 – lured by gaps in the border fence and a Border Patrol sector stretched to the limit.
What has followed, as a result, is a $20million bill for medical services for migrants at the hospital since January, locals claiming they are being shot at by cartel traffickers, 48 dead bodies discovered in the last six months, a drop in tourism, and a homeless shelter so overwhelmed, it was forced to lock its doors at one point.
Yuma has also become the origin for many of the migrant buses headed to Washington DC, New York, and Chicago – prompting howls of outrage from DC Mayor Muriel Bowser who declared a state of emergency after receiving 4,000 migrants, and Mayor Eric Adams who claimed homeless shelters in New York have been inundated.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot of Chicago branded Texas governor Greg Abbott 'racist' for sending several busloads of people totaling 60.
The border city of Yuma, Arizona has been bearing the brunt of the mass influx of migrants entering the US daily, thanks to gaps in the border fence that have lured in almost 250,000 people in the last year. Pictured: Immigrants in Yuma prepare to be transferred to other 'sanctuary' cities in the US via bus
Yuma is on the front line of the US's southern border crisis, with 24,424 people crossing the Sonoran Desert into the city in July, the most recent month that figures are available
Above, immigrants receive toiletries and Covid tests at a processing center before being bussed out of the border town
But for the people of Yuma, 60 is just a drop in the ocean.
'60? We have 800 coming every day,' one elderly local who lives close to the infamous 'Gap' at the Morelos Dam told DailyMail.com.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, Yuma mayor Douglas Nicholls said: 'You have mayors from Washington DC and New York City that are complaining about a couple of thousand people over three or four months – we're seeing those numbers monthly or even weekly.
'If those few thousand people are having an impact, imagine the impact of over 200,000 people.
'I think what it is, is a wake-up call for them. They want to have them in their communities, they want to be a sanctuary city.
'Well, this is what being a sanctuary city is – being open to receiving people. Complaining about being sent 60 people seems hypocritical, to be frank.'
Yuma is on the front line of the US's southern border crisis with 24,424 people crossing the Sonoran Desert into the city in July, the most recent month that figures are available.
That amounts to a 400 per cent increase on the previous year which was itself a 2,399.6 per cent spike on the numbers seen in 2020.
Most of the migrants are drawn to the area by the relative ease of crossing the border – according to Mayor Nicholls, there are 50 breaks in the border wall along the 126-mile Yuma sector, including the 'Gap'.
Arizona Governor Doug Ducey (left), who has tried to block the gaps with 60 double-stacked shipping containers, began sending migrants to D.C. on buses in May after the situation became too much for the state to handle. Yuma mayor Douglas Nicholls (right) believes the busloads of migrants arriving at liberal 'sanctuary' cities will be a 'wake-up call' for officials
Tourism and agriculture – the lifeblood of the town – have also been affected amid the spike in border crossings, with Mayor Douglas Nicholls telling DailyMail.com that people have been put off visiting Yuma which boasts a panoply of historic sites
The spike in migration is thanks to the relative ease of crossing the border – according to Yuma mayor Douglas Nicholls, there are 50 breaks in the border wall along the 126-mile Yuma sector, including the 'Gap' (pictured)
In desperation, Arizona governor Doug Ducey has attempted to block some of the crossing points with makeshift walls made of shipping containers, including at the Morelos Dam
The border cuts through the Cocopah Indian Reservation (pictured) which refuses to erect a fence, leaving several miles of open land across the border
Todd Bensmann of the Center for Immigration Studies said: 'There's a few things about Yuma.
'One is that there are big gaps in the wall there that are attractive because you can walk right across.
'The Border Patrol in that sector is very thin – there's not enough so they can't do anything.'
He added: 'This is the perfect confluence of circumstances. Furthermore, in California, ironically I guess, there's a lot of wall.
'You can't just cross from Tijuana – there's layers of wall. The wall in California covers a lot of that border – it's older wall.
'So, they get funneled to areas where there's big gaps in the wall and thin Border Patrol on the other side.
'They come into Tijuana or come up to Mexicali. There's good roads and highways that go through Baja and Sonora.
'You can take a bus – you can get on buses and the buses take them right on over to the Gap so it's a great place to cross.'
Last December, Mayor Nicholls declared a state of emergency – still in effect - after migrants began flooding into town, overwhelming the local homeless shelter.
Several miles of open land stretch across the Cocopah reservation, where there is very little Border Patrol
Jose Esquival, who works at the Crossroads Mission, told DailyMail.com: 'We had them lined up across the street.
'We give them food and clothes, let them come in and shower, eat and there was another moment where they were lining up out to the railroad – people were trying to jump on the trains.
'We had to start locking the doors. There were hundreds of them. We started putting out five to six big trash cans outside and they would get overfilled and would start pouring everywhere.
'They started putting their own little tents up. In the end we couldn't help – we only have so many blankets and so many pillows.
'It got to the point where one person would ask for a shoe and then two other guys would rush up and fight for the shoes. It got really bad.
'Shortly after that, we locked the doors but we still had people camping in the entrance.'
Tourism and agriculture – the lifeblood of the town – have also been
