1 00:00:02,033 --> 00:00:04,266 JUDY WOODRUFF: Although crossings at the U.S. southern border are at historic lows, the 2 00:00:04,266 --> 00:00:09,000 number of families and unaccompanied minors entering the U.S. has been increasing. 3 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:14,000 Amna Nawaz was granted access to Border Patrol's Yuma Sector operations in Arizona. 4 00:00:15,966 --> 00:00:20,700 This is the first of two reports, starting with a view from the U.S. side of the border. 5 00:00:20,700 --> 00:00:24,733 And a warning: Viewers may find some images disturbing. 6 00:00:24,733 --> 00:00:29,733 AMNA NAWAZ: Under the hot Arizona sun, with few belongings and well-worn shoes, these 7 00:00:32,266 --> 00:00:37,000 migrants have just crossed onto American soil after the nearly-4,000-mile journey from Guatemala. 8 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:41,433 Some in the group allow us to shoot video. 9 00:00:41,433 --> 00:00:45,833 Florencio says he and his 4-year-old son, Walter, traveled for 30 days. 10 00:00:45,833 --> 00:00:49,033 He's desperate for work and says there was none back home. 11 00:00:49,033 --> 00:00:51,933 He and the others surrendered to U.S. Border Patrol agents. 12 00:00:51,933 --> 00:00:54,866 The agents didn't allow us to record interviews with the group. 13 00:00:54,866 --> 00:00:59,833 But they invited us to spend a day seeing what they do here in the Yuma Sector in Southwest 14 00:01:00,633 --> 00:01:02,566 Arizona. 15 00:01:02,566 --> 00:01:05,166 The groups they're encountering in recent years have changed dramatically. 16 00:01:05,166 --> 00:01:10,166 A decade ago, 90 percent of immigrants caught crossing illegally were single adult men from 17 00:01:11,400 --> 00:01:13,433 Mexico. 18 00:01:13,433 --> 00:01:17,966 Today, nearly 90 percent are families and unaccompanied children from Central America. 19 00:01:19,900 --> 00:01:23,200 That change, they say, is stretching their resources like never before. 20 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:28,133 At their headquarters, Border Patrol shows us where families are first detained. 21 00:01:28,133 --> 00:01:31,833 Inside the headquarters is what they call a processing center, where families are held 22 00:01:31,833 --> 00:01:33,933 for about three days. 23 00:01:33,933 --> 00:01:36,433 And we're not allowed to shoot any picture, but we can tell you what we saw. 24 00:01:36,433 --> 00:01:38,366 It's basically a giant cement room. 25 00:01:38,366 --> 00:01:41,766 And around the perimeter of the room are a number of holding cells that are broken up 26 00:01:41,766 --> 00:01:43,266 by population. 27 00:01:43,266 --> 00:01:45,766 So you have mothers and daughters, fathers and sons. 28 00:01:45,766 --> 00:01:50,533 But the single most crowded room was for unaccompanied males, just dozens and dozens of teenagers 29 00:01:51,766 --> 00:01:54,400 lying like sardines in this one cement room. 30 00:01:54,400 --> 00:01:57,666 What really strikes you about the room, though, is how many children there are, toddlers running 31 00:01:57,666 --> 00:01:59,933 around, infants in their mother's arms. 32 00:01:59,933 --> 00:02:03,966 The one thing border officials will tell you is everyone can agree this is no place for 33 00:02:03,966 --> 00:02:06,533 families and children. 34 00:02:06,533 --> 00:02:11,033 We could record video in what they call their Costco, a room once filled with office supplies, 35 00:02:12,966 --> 00:02:16,333 now packed with diapers, formula, and family essentials, unpacked here by some of the 90 36 00:02:17,733 --> 00:02:19,800 National Guard troops sent to backfill staffing. 37 00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:21,166 ANTHONY PORVAZNIK, Yuma Sector Border Patrol: This is what we call an enforcement zone, 38 00:02:21,166 --> 00:02:23,233 so this is triple-layer fencing here. 39 00:02:23,233 --> 00:02:27,400 AMNA NAWAZ: Yuma Sector Chief Anthony Porvaznik says he's asked for more agents. 40 00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:31,633 He already has funding from last year to update 25 miles of border fencing. 41 00:02:31,633 --> 00:02:33,133 ANTHONY PORVAZNIK: This will all be replaced. 42 00:02:33,133 --> 00:02:34,633 AMNA NAWAZ: Into what? 43 00:02:34,633 --> 00:02:36,666 ANTHONY PORVAZNIK: It will be 30 feet bollard-style fence. 44 00:02:36,666 --> 00:02:41,433 AMNA NAWAZ: His resources, he says, haven't changed since 2012, but the job has. 45 00:02:43,433 --> 00:02:47,433 Porvaznik estimates 35 percent to 40 percent of his current manpower goes to processing 46 00:02:48,866 --> 00:02:51,000 and caring for the families and children in custody. 47 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:55,266 ANTHONY PORVAZNIK: We just had a lady last week who delivered twins two months premature. 48 00:02:55,266 --> 00:02:59,366 And they see -- they see sick kids in our custody. 49 00:02:59,366 --> 00:03:04,333 And last year alone, we took 550 kids to the hospital here, over 1,700 total here just 50 00:03:05,833 --> 00:03:08,366 in the Yuma area. 51 00:03:08,366 --> 00:03:12,333 That's a huge strain on our resources, because they're doing things that are not enforcement-related. 52 00:03:12,333 --> 00:03:17,133 AMNA NAWAZ: But agents concede no barrier is 100 percent effective. 53 00:03:17,133 --> 00:03:21,866 They point us towards the surveillance videos showing families climbing over sections of 54 00:03:21,866 --> 00:03:23,500 wall. 55 00:03:23,500 --> 00:03:25,833 The 14-year-old girl in this clip broke her vertebrae from the fall. 56 00:03:25,833 --> 00:03:30,066 Injuries, they say, are common and further stretch their resources. 57 00:03:30,066 --> 00:03:31,566 How far back does this date? 58 00:03:31,566 --> 00:03:33,566 ANTHONY PORVAZNIK: This dates back to about 1990. 59 00:03:33,566 --> 00:03:38,300 AMNA NAWAZ: Chief Porvaznik believes updating older wall will dissuade people from trying 60 00:03:39,033 --> 00:03:41,066 to cross illegally. 61 00:03:41,066 --> 00:03:44,233 When you see people who are willing to dig under this and climb over barbed wire and 62 00:03:44,233 --> 00:03:49,233 build makeshift ladders to climb over additional fencing, do you think that that's enough to 63 00:03:50,433 --> 00:03:52,000 deter people to try to breach it in some way? 64 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:54,133 ANTHONY PORVAZNIK: The majority of the population, yes. 65 00:03:54,133 --> 00:03:55,400 AMNA NAWAZ: Yes? 66 00:03:55,400 --> 00:03:57,100 ANTHONY PORVAZNIK: It will deter the majority. 67 00:03:57,100 --> 00:03:59,966 And what we're trying to do is impede and deny entry into this area. 68 00:03:59,966 --> 00:04:04,800 And so, 87 percent of the people that we apprehend right now are family units and unaccompanied 69 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:06,066 children. 70 00:04:06,066 --> 00:04:07,966 They won't go over a 30-foot bollard. 71 00:04:07,966 --> 00:04:09,966 Is it going to push it somewhere else? 72 00:04:09,966 --> 00:04:12,033 Likely, yes. 73 00:04:12,033 --> 00:04:16,766 AMNA NAWAZ: Later in the day, Border Patrol encountered a second group of Guatemalans 74 00:04:17,366 --> 00:04:19,000 migrants. 75 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:21,633 This mother of two young children asked we don't show their faces. 76 00:04:21,633 --> 00:04:23,733 She's fleeing her abusive husband. 77 00:04:23,733 --> 00:04:28,300 She and the rest of this group of 12 waited across the Colorado River to get into the 78 00:04:28,300 --> 00:04:30,366 U.S. 79 00:04:30,366 --> 00:04:31,033 CARL LANDRUM, Yuma Sector Border Patrol: These are things that we have to interact with here 80 00:04:31,033 --> 00:04:33,133 on the ground. 81 00:04:33,133 --> 00:04:35,733 AMNA NAWAZ: Deputy Chief Carl Landrum walked us through the brush to show us where they 82 00:04:35,733 --> 00:04:37,666 crossed. 83 00:04:37,666 --> 00:04:39,566 The fact that people are willing to make a crossing like this with little kids tells 84 00:04:39,566 --> 00:04:42,400 you what people are willing to do to come to the States. 85 00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:47,400 CARL LANDRUM: It definitely -- it definitely shows that people want to experience the American 86 00:04:48,533 --> 00:04:50,466 dream. 87 00:04:50,466 --> 00:04:53,333 And we would like for everybody that could be a part of that legally to be a part of 88 00:04:53,333 --> 00:04:55,400 it. 89 00:04:55,400 --> 00:04:58,433 AMNA NAWAZ: But immigration attorney Laura Belous of the Arizona-based Florence Project 90 00:04:58,433 --> 00:05:02,433 says resources should go to immigration courts, not physical barriers. 91 00:05:02,433 --> 00:05:05,466 LAURA BELOUS, Attorney, Florence Project: If you look at the history the border over 92 00:05:05,466 --> 00:05:10,066 the last 20 years, increased walls within cities then pushed people into deserts. 93 00:05:10,066 --> 00:05:14,600 So, if there's walls and deserts, it is going to push people into canyons and rivers, where 94 00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:17,166 people are likely to have even more dangerous crossing. 95 00:05:17,166 --> 00:05:19,700 Smuggling will be even more expensive. 96 00:05:19,700 --> 00:05:22,800 That then makes everyone along the border less safe. 97 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:27,800 AMNA NAWAZ: Chief Porvaznik says, whatever the solution, the current situation is unsustainable. 98 00:05:29,400 --> 00:05:32,100 ANTHONY PORVAZNIK: Look, we can't arrest our way out of the problem. 99 00:05:32,100 --> 00:05:33,800 That's not going to solve the problem. 100 00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:37,600 So we have to figure out -- and this is not a Border Patrol solve. 101 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:41,066 This is -- this comes from legislation, updated laws. 102 00:05:41,066 --> 00:05:46,066 AMNA NAWAZ: As the policy debate in Washington drags on, there's little relief in sight for 103 00:05:47,700 --> 00:05:51,966 both those patrolling this border and those seeking to cross it. 104 00:05:53,933 --> 00:05:56,500 Officials say the vast majority of those crossing are families seeking stability or safety, 105 00:05:56,500 --> 00:06:01,366 though they also say background checks sometimes reveal someone with a criminal history. 106 00:06:01,366 --> 00:06:06,066 Judy, it's worth noting that criminal history often means an immigration violation, not 107 00:06:06,066 --> 00:06:08,100 necessarily a violent crime. 108 00:06:08,100 --> 00:06:11,466 But Border Patrol officials' bigger concern is who they're missing while they're busy 109 00:06:11,466 --> 00:06:12,933 caring for these families and children. 110 00:06:12,933 --> 00:06:15,166 So they say they want everyone to cross legally. 111 00:06:15,166 --> 00:06:17,200 And that will be the focus of our piece tomorrow evening. 112 00:06:17,200 --> 00:06:19,033 JUDY WOODRUFF: And we're very much looking forward to that. 113 00:06:19,033 --> 00:06:20,033 Thank you. 114 00:06:20,033 --> 00:06:20,166 AMNA NAWAZ: Thanks, Judy.