YUMA — Hundreds of migrants crossed the border near Yuma on Wednesday.
"Now that we're here, we're free," said a Peruvian woman.
There were people arriving from all over the world: Peru, Columbia, the Dominican Republic. Some came on their own, and others came with family, but they tell ABC15 they are all searching for the same thing.
"What the whole world wants to do — look for opportunities to get ahead," responded a Columbian woman.
They crossed through a gap in the border wall, a part that cannot be extended because it sits on tribal land. Crossing normally happens at night in small numbers. Now, migrants are coming over in large groups during the day.
The uncertainty of Title 42, the pandemic-era immigration policy, is also causing confusion since it’s temporarily still in place.
“I was under the impression that as of yesterday, we could cross. That today, Title 42 no longer exists," says the same Columbian woman.
Yuma County Supervisor Jonathan Lines tells us the reality is, many of those crossing will be sent back.
"We've got up to 1,300 people coming into Yuma on a daily basis and that doesn't even begin to scratch the surface at what we are seeing at the rest of our border," says Jonathan Lines, Yuma County Supervisor.
It is tying up border patrol, which is already stretched thin. Supervisor Lines says the agents are even considering street releases because of those numbers.
Supervisor Lines says that border communities are "absolutely not" able to handle the influx of migrants that are coming in.
Biden requested a one-week delay of Title 42. Migrants tell us they are just happy to step foot in the United States, one step closer to freedom.
"Nothing is easy. It's a lot of suffering to get here," said the same Peruvian woman.
