There’s an easy answer to people falling from the border wall: don’t climb it. If you try and climb the White House fence and fall and hurt yourself, who’s to blame? Would the NY Times blast Joe Biden for having that evil fence? Or would they call you a bad person for attempting to unlawfully enter the White House grounds?
Border Wall-Related Falls Are Increasing in California
In an effort to deter migrants from illegally crossing into the United States, the federal government has in recent years been erecting walls that are taller and harder to scale along the border with Mexico.
That fortification has had big consequences, especially in California: More migrants are having devastating and costly falls.
My colleague Miriam Jordan was reporting at the border this year when she noticed an unusual number of migrants in wheelchairs, bandages and casts at shelters. Jordan learned that while there was no comprehensive accounting of wall-related injuries and deaths, doctors at U.S. hospitals along the border have noticed a definite increase.
“Desperate people try to jump over, and they suffer much more severe traumatic injuries to the head,” Jordan said. “The falls also shatter their extremities, because of greater impact from falling farther.”
That’s on them. If I go and climb the fence into the residence of Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi, a nuclear power plant, a military base, and fall and hurt myself I’d be prosecuted. The NY Times would say I was a fool for doing what I did. If I cut myself on the barbed or razor wire, that’s on me. Those big walls at the border should be saying “stay out.”
Problems continue even after they receive treatment. “Many migrants do not receive the follow-up care that they need after being released from the hospital,” she said, “and they may never regain the ability to work at physically arduous jobs, which they came to America to do, or lead a normal life.”
If you blow a stop sign and a car hits you, well, you brought the injuries on yourself.
“The problem is getting worse and worse,” said Dr. Jay Doucet, chief of the trauma unit at UC San Diego Health, which is about 15 miles from the Tijuana-San Ysidro border crossing. “The hospital system is taking a big hit,” he told Jordan.
Is anyone blaming Apple, Samsung, Google, or other smartphone makers for all the people getting hurt taking selfies and videos? Why would we blame a wall, even one that was increased in height from 8-11 feet to 30 feet? It’s a clear sign that says “no. Stay out”.
“This is at our center alone, and we only see severe trauma,” said Alexander Tenorio, a neurosurgeon at UC San Diego Health who has operated on migrants with brain injuries.
“It’s an untold, heartbreaking story of unnecessary human suffering,” he said.
How about we electrify it, so that if they touch it they get a shock? We can use green energy, put a bunch of solar panels up to power it.
Read: NY Times Is Super Concerned Over Border Wall Falls In California »