2021 was the deadliest year on record for migrants crossing the border. That's according to customs and border protection in Imperial county migrants continue to drown in the all American canal. K PBS border reporter, Gustavo Salise explains why there's been more drownings and who is trying to do something about it.
Everything John Hunter thought he knew about illegal immigration changed. When he went on a nighttime ride, along with border patrol agents in 2000, they used night vision goggles to spot a group of migrants on the us side of the border. Hunter still remembers their rush. When they moved in on the group,
We went down and busted him, turned out there were six little ladies sitting there on the ground and they had their purse. I'm going, I don't feel like such a stud here I am busting. Someone looks like my, my mother or my grandmother or my sister's cook. It's sort of, it's not like a manly thing to do. You know,
Hunter is a staunch Republican, the brother and uncle former San Diego, Congressman Duncan, hunter, senior and junior, until that night, his image of people across illegally were bad ombres and macho mus as he calls them. But that's not what he saw. He saw poor people trying to survive women and children fleeing violence. Soon after he began leaving water bottles along the borders, rugged mountains in Treacher desert. Then he focused his attention on the all American canal and Imperial county, where more than 550 have drown to death while trying cross the border. Since that leave the 1990s, he looked into who was drowning and found the same thing.
These are just ordinary people that drown crossing. These are not the cartels. These are not the guys you read about with the, you know, the macho mu cha Chos. These are not, they're just ordinary people that can't make a living. They're trying to survive.
The all American cannot Alice an 82 mile waterway that runs along the us border. As it carries water from the Colorado river to Southern California, it's managed by the Imperial irrigation district. The canal is notoriously deadly for migrants trying to cross the border illegally is 200 feet wide and about 20 feet deep in some areas, CBP agent John Mendoza explains why the canals deceptively dangerous. A a lot of the
Migrants don't know the threats that the water has, what may appear to be calm on the top may not be so on the bottom. There's a lot of strong currents and under toes that can take someone very easily underneath, um,
The water in 2010, John and his wife, Laura led efforts to install 1000 safety buoys and ladders along the canal. It was an uphill battle. Some irrigation district board members and staff thought the safety measures would make it too easy for people to cross the border illegally, former irrigation district board member, Michael Abody supported Hunter's proposals, but he faced pushback from his own agency. There
Were some arrogance on some of this, uh, staff that say, what are you, what are you gonna do? Just build a bridge so they can come across and said, I'm asking to build a bridge, but it would definitely wasn't meant to be the end of the road for a lot of people.
But then 60 minutes came to town and did an expose on the canal diffs. After that the irrigation district agreed to install 103 buoy along the canal, one every half mile on the east side and one every mile on the west side. And the buoys made a difference. The number of drownings decreased border patrol agents say the buoys actually helped them rescue migrants in the canal. If we have
To apprehend a group or we have to rescue a group of individuals that may be struggling, the water, we can use the buoy lines, uh, as a
Reference, the irrigation district has not increased the number of safety buoys along the canal since 2010. And they shows that drowning deaths are increasing, particularly along the Western part of the canal that has fewer buoy lines, irrigation district officials declined a KPBS interview request. A spokesperson says the agency has installed 40 warning signs along the canal in recent years. This is in addition to more than 1300 signs that had already been installed. Still 47 migrants have in the canal since 20 15, 14 of them last year, hunter says it's time to add more buoys, right?
The data indicates that they're, they're rounding close to Mexico or close to winter Haven where there aren't the buoys. And so no, that is it's pretty common sense, right? These are common sense things. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to make an estimate that it'll work a
Body agrees with hunter, but he does not think the current irrigation board will prioritize this issue. It's not
Acceptable. I mean, I think we can do better. I wish they do better. I mean, if they don't like the buoy system, I say, well, try something else, but try something. They're not trying anything. And that's what flush straight in today. Gustavo