SAN LUIS, Ariz. — After 48 hours of reporting at the border, we learned that Arizona’s border communities have been uniquely affected by the intermittent spikes in migrant encounters seen over the past year. Ta.
San Luis in Yuma County, Arizona is no exception.
Walking down San Luis’ main street feels like stepping into another world.
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Although there are few language or cultural barriers within the town, there are physical barriers, such as the port of entry at San Luis. An average of 7,000 people cross each day, according to data provided by the city of San Luis.
Julio is one of them. He travels every day from San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora, to work on a farm on the Arizona side to support his family.
“I get in line every night around 11 p.m.,” he says.
He usually misses a lot of the foot traffic because he’s in line during off-peak hours. But not everyone is so lucky, like Francesca Bustamante, who told ABC15 that she’s been seeing longer wait times at the border lately.
Bustamante has homes on both the U.S. and Mexican sides of the border, so crossing the border is necessary.
“We were waiting for two, maybe three hours just to cross,” she explained.
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Angelica Carrillo, the manager of a children’s clothing store located a short distance from the port of entry, has also noticed the wait times getting longer.
“We saw a lot more movement,” Bustamante explains. “There are more lines to cross and more field workers.”
Bustamante added that wait times of up to four hours are not unheard of, and recommends not even crossing on Sundays due to long wait times.
But longer wait times at the border aren’t giving everyone pause. So do Francisca and her friends, who came from San Luis Rio Colorado for errands, shopping, and lunch.
“Maybe we should come get some coffee and grab a burger,” Francisca explains. “It’s a really nice day!”
Long lines or not, workers like Julio have no choice. But that’s not the only thing he’s aware of.
“I noticed that more people were coming,” Julio said. “And they come from all over.”
Julio says he has recently seen more people cross illegally to get work, and others cross legally.
As Julio welcomes new people to San Luis, it doesn’t seem to bother him whether it’s long lines or increased competition in his field of paychecks.
The city of San Luis says it has about 40,000 full-time residents, but given that on average 3 million cars and 2.5 million people cross on foot each year, that number is likely to explode. Masu.
Still, San Luis, Arizona has a unique ability to maintain a small hometown feel that gives its residents a sense of “orgallo,” or pride.
