Under the shadow of the border wall, dozens of migrants raced to get in line as they spotted the glimmer of vehicle lights down the road. US Border Patrol agents were on the way.
For hours, migrants, primarily of the middle-class in South America, had waited to turn themselves in to the Border Patrol, setting up fires just feet from the border wall to keep warm.
"My family depends on me," said Carlos Garcia, a 47-year-old from Venezuela seeking asylum in the US, in Spanish.
Thousands of migrants have descended on this part of the US-Mexico border in recent weeks, overwhelming facilities and stressing already-taxed resources in the region.
It's the latest challenge for the Biden administration, which for months has been grappling with large numbers of migrants at the US-Mexico border. In October, Border Patrol arrested nearly 22,000 people crossing the border in Yuma, a 1,200% increase from January, according to US Customs and Border Protection data.
At a break along the US-Mexico border wall, migrants, pulling suitcases and carrying luggage, cross and congregate to be picked up by Border Patrol agents. Unlike previous migrant surges, these people -- in many cases -- are middle-class families, underscoring the economic and political instability in much of Latin America.
Francisco Lopez, a 50-year-old from Nicaragua, never planned to migrate to the United States. But political oppression in his home country left him no choice, he said.
"Unfortunately, I had to take this option that perhaps isn't what I had planned for my future," he said in Spanish. Lopez, an attorney, journeyed north with his 18-year-old son.
"On one hand, Covid and the accompanying recessions left many people in the Latin American middle class a lot worse off and people who would not have considered migrating have decided it's a useful option," said Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute. "At the same time, the ease of crossing the border has made some people who have ties to the US decide it's time to come now if they're going to make it. I think both those things are true at the same time."
The coronavirus pandemic exacerbated deteriorating conditions in Central and South America, prompting people to journey north. Authorities in South America have been monitoring the increased movement of migrants in the region for months.
Earlier this year, the surge of Haitians -- many of whom had been living in South America for years -- into Del Rio, Texas, served as example of the difficulty in tackling migratory flows that are constantly changing. Those migrants largely made their way on foot and bus.
But many migrants fleeing conditions in Latin America and arriving in Yuma took a different path -- often flying to an airport in Mexico and then crossing at a gap along the Colorado River, cutting the journey down to just days. It's the most viable option for many Venezuelans and Brazilians, for example, who can't obtain a visa that allows them to work in the US -- or can't afford the years-long wait for the legal immigration process.
Yuma Mayor Douglas Nicholls recently issued a local emergency to help the situation in his city. "This is highly unusual. This is ground we've never really tread before," he told CNN.
The Biden administration is expected to send more than 100 agents to Yuma this week to provide additional assistance, according to Nicholls, who's been in touch with the Department of Homeland Security.
In a statement, CBP spokesperson John Mennell said it's working with partners to "expeditiously transport, screen and process those encountered.
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