Migrants to blame for border wall injuries, Americans say

About half of Americans believe migrants are the most to blame if they are injured while trying to cross into the United States, according to a poll conducted exclusively for Newsweek.

The poll by Redfield & Wilton Strategies found that 49 percent of respondents believe the migrants themselves are the most to blame if they are injured while trying to cross the border.

However, 17 percent said the federal government bears the most responsibility, while 13 percent blamed the governments in border states, such as Texas and Arizona, for migrants being injured. Just 7 percent said the Mexican government was to blame, and 14 percent said they didn’t know.

The poll surveyed 1,500 eligible U.S. voters between March 23 and 24 on behalf of Newsweek.

The number of migrants being injured while trying to climb over the wall that separates Mexico and the U.S. has risen significantly since the Trump administration began replacing sections of it that were less than 20 feet with 30-foot steel bollard barriers to deter illegal crossings.

Earlier in March, 11 people were hurt in a single day after falling from the wall in California. And last week, a woman died after falling from the wall near the San Ysidro Port of Entry.

It comes as immigration has emerged as a central issue in November’s presidential election, set to be a rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. Trump has blamed Biden for a surge in illegal crossings and vowed to secure the border if he wins back the White House. Arrests for illegal crossings hit 250,000—a record high—in December, but fell by half in January.

Biden, on his part, has blasted Republican lawmakers for sinking a bipartisan border bill that sought to tamp down the number of illegal crossings.

The poll also found that a majority (65 percent) agree that the U.S. is facing a migrant crisis, while 58 percent do not believe the U.S. currently has control over the U.S.-Mexico border. More than half (54 percent) said they support the construction of a wall along the southern border.

Hospitals in California and Texas have reported that migrants are being treated for devastating injuries after being injured in falls from the border wall. A spokesperson for Scripps Mercy Hospital San Diego previously told Newsweek that most need to be hospitalized for their injuries, which range from bone fractures to serious brain injuries.

Advocates for migrants’ rights have blamed the government for the rising number of migrants being injured.

“The 30-foot border wall that sits in certain areas of the U.S.-Mexico border makes it much more likely that someone falling will sustain these life-altering injuries,” Pedro Rios, director of the American Friends Service Committee’s U.S./Mexico border program, previously told Newsweek.

“To me, it just indicates that the expectation at that height would result in many more people falling and injuring themselves.”

Masih Fouladi, the executive director of the California Immigrant Policy Center, has told Newsweek that the rise in injuries is “the inevitable outcome” of an immigration policy designed with “an inhumane approach.”

“Immigrant rights organizations made it clear from the time that taller, 30-foot border walls were proposed under the Trump administration that these structures would only increase the risk of injury and death to migrants,” Fouladi said, adding that reports from hospitals and the Mexican government have verified that fear.

Twenty-nine Mexican nationals died last year while trying to cross into the San Diego region, down from 42 the previous year, according to the Mexican consulate. Another 120 were injured.