TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The border has been a constant topic here in southern Arizona long before Donald Trump announced he was running for president in June of 2015.
But in the past nearly decade since, the problem has grown larger and larger.
At the same time, it has become a topic that dominates not just local but national news as well.
The 2024 calendar year saw over 1.8 million migrants cross illegally over the US-Mexico border.
But following Joe Biden's executive action in June, crossings decreased by over 35%.
At one of the more popular crossing points, near Sasabe, Arizona, Samaritans say they have seen fewer people needing help.
"The numbers are down from a year ago, but people cross every day, and we find that there are people who are in need of food, water, minor medical attention, a friendly voice, somebody to say, welcome. And so we feel like that's our task," says Paul Nixon, a volunteer for the Green Valley Samaritans.
Nixon and other volunteers are in the Sasabe area daily, hoping to help anyone in need.
"Our mission is to prevent deaths and relieve suffering in the desert. That's pure and simple. We don't have a political agenda. We don't support candidates. We don't take positions on political ideologies," says Nixon.
Ahead of inauguration day, Donald Trump has promised sweeping border policy changes, including mass deportations.
Volunteers like Nixon wonder what that is going to look like.
"I think people are still going to come and you know when we talk to people about how long they've been on the road, we met an Indian family here three weeks ago who had been traveling a year. Africans have been on the road for four to six months. They're not going to turn around and go home, you know," says Nixon, "They're going to try to make their way here. So we expect that, while the numbers might diminish, that people are still going to cross."
So now, volunteers, migrants, and the rest of the world wait and see, what a second term under Donald Trump will bring to the country, and to the Arizona-Mexico Border.
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Blake Phillips is a reporter for KGUN 9. Originally from St. Louis, Mo., Blake grew up in Sierra Vista. During his college tenure at the Missouri School of Journalism, Blake worked for the NBC affiliate KOMU-TV in Columbia. He is excited to return to a place he calls home and give back to the community in which he grew up. Share your story ideas and important issues with Blake by emailing blake.phillips@kgun9.com.