With the rising number of migrants arriving in the Yuma Sector in recent weeks, non-profit organizations have stepped up to provide humanitarian assistance.
But it isn’t just Yuma-area groups that are at the border.
On Sunday, two volunteers from El Monte, Calif.-based SOS busqueda y rescate, or search and rescue, met a group of 13 migrants from Haiti and Colombia with food, water and clothes.
Volunteer Marta Carrillo said she drove more than four hours from Victorville, Calif. to Yuma after she saw the news about migrants arriving here, where she met up with fellow volunteer Miguel Mendes.
“The most important thing we should remember is that this country was made by migrants," Carrillo told KAWC in Spanish. "Our ancestors migrated here... so we have to put our hands on our hearts to help our brothers and sisters”
Carrillo said she spoke with Border Patrol officers who allowed her to lay out the food near the border fence and the migrants ate while they waited to make contact with officers for processing.
Late Friday, Yuma Mayor Doug Nicholls told KYMA in Yuma that the influx of migrants that began last week is easing.