Illegal border crossings rise again; Lukeville seeing hundreds of migrants a day

LUKEVILLE, Ariz. (KGUN) — The Tucson Sector is now at the center of the southern border crisis.

Lukeville, Arizona is two hours southwest of Tucson. Right now it is being hit with huge numbers of migrant groups, with more than 500 gathered at the wall Monday morning.

“Nobody move, just listen," a Border Patrol agent says to the crowd using a loudspeaker.

They are trying to control the crowd, as everyone is anxious to leave, but they are prioritizing families with babies for transport to their overflowing processing centers.

Adam Klepp

The rest have to wait, like Guillermo Merchan from Ecuador who says he’s fleeing violence.

“I come from there scared. Because every day they kill there. They kill,” Merchan said.

The migrants are not just from Spanish speaking countries.

Hundreds of African men are crossing the border.

Adam Klepp

“Some people are sick," one man from Senegal said.
"It’s not cool, man. We have to get out of here."

Conditions are bad as trash is strewn across the area and full diapers are left on the ground.

Migrants even make fire pits to keep warm as they wait hours to be arrested.

Adam Klepp

Still, some say this is better than what they left behind.

“The political situation in my country is very serious. I left my country because my life was in danger," Madou Deandah from Guinea said.

The Tucson Sectorhas led the entire border with apprehension numbersfor the last four months.