Customs and Border Protection officials in Arizona showed a video of what they describe as 110 migrants climbing over a border wall with a ladder.
The group was detained on Wednesday by Border Patrol agents in the Yuma Sector, the agency said on Twitter. The Central American nationals were accused of having “illegally scaled the wall with the assistance of a smuggler with a ladder,” the tweet said.
The video is black-and-white, showing a steady stream of people making their way over the structure. Toward the end of the clip, a group was recorded leaving the area, while someone on the other side of the barrier also darted away.
On Monday #CBP #YumaSector Border Patrol agents apprehended a group of 110+ Central Americans who illegally scaled the wall with the assistance of a smuggler with a ladder #NationalSecurity #SouthwestBorder pic.twitter.com/T19JzI3xeC
— CBP Arizona (@CBPArizona) January 23, 2019
The video comes a week after a group of 376 Central Americans reportedly made their way into the US at the Arizona border via tunnels dug beneath the barrier, according to Border Patrol officials.
Members of the group were arrested after entering the country on 14 January. They didn’t attempt to avoid law enforcement prior to their apprehension, Border Patrol said, according to The Associated Press.
The request for funding for border security and the construction of a border wall or physical barrier along the US-Mexico border continues to be a sticking point in negotiations between US President Donald Trump and Democrats amid the ongoing partial government shutdown, which has been in effect since 22 December.