Border wall-related falls are on the rise in California

USA

It’s Monday. More and more migrants are injuring themselves while trying to cross the southern border in California. Additionally, an LA Rams training complex could help transform the urban sprawl.

In an effort to deter migrants from entering the country illegally, the federal government in recent years has built walls along the border with Mexico that are taller and more difficult to climb.

That reinforcement has had major consequences, especially in California, as more and more migrants suffer devastating and costly falls.

My colleague Miriam Jordan reported to the border this year when she noticed an unusual number of migrants in wheelchairs, bandages and casts at shelters. Miriam found that while doctors at U.S. hospitals along the border do not have a comprehensive accounting of wall-related injuries and deaths, they have noticed a marked increase.

“Desperate people try to jump over it, and they end up with much more serious traumatic head injuries,” Miriam told me. “The falls also shatter their limbs, due to the greater impact as they fall further.”

The problems persist even after they have been treated. “Many migrants do not receive the follow-up care they need after they are released from the hospital,” she said, “and it is possible that they will never again have the opportunity to do the physically demanding work that they came to America to do, or lead a normal life.”

You can read Mirjam’s full article here.

During his presidency, Donald J. Trump ordered the construction in California of a 30-foot-tall steel barrier to replace more than 400 miles of fencing that ranged in height from 8 to 15 feet. The project was completed in 2019 and since then, the number of patients admitted to UC San Diego Health’s trauma center due to falls caused by the wall has increased sevenfold. The hospital has recorded 23 deaths from such falls since 2019; the four previous years had none.

“The problem is getting worse,” said Dr. Jay Doucet, chief of the trauma unit at UC San Diego Health, about 15 miles from the Tijuana-San Ysidro border crossing. “The hospital system is taking a big hit,” he told Miriam.

Last year, UC San Diego Health converted a postpartum unit into a unit for border wall victims. The enormous numbers have also had an impact on the care of the local population; The waiting time for spinal procedures in the hospital has increased from three days to almost two weeks.

“This is just in our center and we only see severe trauma,” said Alexander Tenorio, a neurosurgeon at UC San Diego who has operated on migrants with brain injuries.

“It’s an untold, heartbreaking story of unnecessary human suffering,” he said.

Where we travel to

Today’s tip comes from Lin Daniels, who runs Moss Landing, a community and state beach in Monterey County:

“You drive there via the scenic Highway 1 towards Monterey. The entrance is a road that winds through an estuary, a wetland laden with an abundance of shorebirds. The road is located between the dunes and a small bay, where sea otter and seals take up residence all year round. You can rent a kayak there to paddle respectfully with them, or take the time to join a captain who will take you through the swamp on a very small boat and absorb the magic. Mother otters nurse their babies there and more than 100 coastal and migratory birds are seen every day. We always end our day in nature at its best with a freshly caught meal in the fishing hut on the coast. As the sun sets over the Pacific Ocean, we leave sated and warm, grateful to live in California.

Tell us about your favorite places to visit in California. Email your suggestions to CAtoday@nytimes.com. We will share more in future editions of the newsletter.

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And before you go: good news

After nearly eight years of negotiations and painstaking work, the Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens in San Marino have opened the newest addition to the Japanese Garden: a 300-year-old shōya house that once anchored a farming community in Marugame, Japan. .

The house, donated to the museum by a Los Angeles couple, Akira and Yohko Yokoi, whose family has owned it for centuries, tells the story not only of the Yokoi family, but also of an interesting chapter in Japan’s history.

The house was built around 1700, after the war that united Japan’s various factions under the Tokugawa shogunate government. The house was built for the Yokoi family and also served as a community center for the surrounding farming village (given the family’s position in the new government), with modest spaces for farmers to store their crops and more ornate rooms for high-ranking officials.

The Huntington acquired the house a few years ago in hopes of creating a compelling historical exhibit, and soon began the lengthy process of deconstructing and carefully rebuilding the house, brick by brick, on the grounds of the California museum. To complete the exhibition, which opened to the public in October, a garden and a plot of traditional Japanese crops were planted.