GOP Sen. Roger Marshall aids suffering migrant during Border Patrol ride-along
Sen. Roger Marshall was forced to put his medical training to use and help a migrant woman suffering from the effects of extreme heat during a recent visit by the lawmaker to the US-Mexico border region.
Video released by the Kansas Republican’s office Monday shows the encounter in Brooks County, Texas — just over 40 miles from the frontier and an area where people smugglers frequently drop off or pick up illegal immigrants.
“It comes in waves, but here lately we’ve noticed an increase of drop-offs and pickups on the north side of town,” Brooks County Sheriff’s Capt. Danny Davila says in the clip. “The criminal element is a lot higher now coming through than the ones that just really want to come to work and contribute for the family and send money back.”
The six-and-a-half-minute video, titled “Doctor First,” shows local law enforcement and Border Patrol agents spotting a silver car packed with several migrants — including one in the trunk — and giving chase.
After officials pull the car over, many of the migrants are taken into custody, including one woman who appears injured.
Marshall is seen handing the woman water and questioning her about an injury on her leg.
“It’s okay,” he tells the woman, before urging her to drink more water. Other officers express concern about dehydration since the woman had allegedly gone without water for two days.
“The one young lady was obviously having heat exhaustion, and maybe she was bordering on heat stroke, so when they brought her, I was able to look at her, and … her respiration was really fast, her pulse was 140, she hadn’t drunk water in two days, her knee was hurting, her hand was cut up from the barbed wire fence, and I really think she’d have probably died in, I don’t know, an hour or two,” Marshall, a trained OB/GYN, later told Fox News.
Marshall later added that he recognized the woman was “in distress … semi-conscious, fading in and out.”
“That’s heat exhaustion going into heat stroke, and once heat stroke starts, it’s almost irreversible,” he said.
Marshall credited the Border Patrol agents who he said deal with similar situations every day, calling them “the true heroes.”
“Those poor officers are expected to be nurses, social workers, psychologists and at the same time have to keep themselves safe and keep America safe. I was able to do my little part, but they’re the true heroes, not me,” he said.
The senator then blasted the “unsustainable humanitarian crisis” along the southern border, blaming President Biden and “his policies” for fostering it.
“By the time they show up, they have dysentery, they’re dehydrated, they have wounds, infections, many of them have been sexually abused, all the things you can imagine, and then many people are dying on the way from the heatstroke, from dehydration and then more dying as they drown coming across the river,” Marshall told Fox News.
“This is an unsustainable humanitarian crisis, this is a human tragedy created by Joe Biden and his policies,” he continued. “He wants this crisis. Either he’s the most incompetent person in the world, or he wants this crisis — he wants to remake America.”
The Biden administration has faced increasing criticism over the rising number of border crossings from Mexico since taking office last year. While the number of border encounters dipped last fall, they reached record highs this spring — hitting 234,088 in April.
While some of the increase has been attributed to Ukrainian and Russian migrants fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine, border and administration officials have been warning of the increase for months — particularly in light of the attempted lifting of Title 42.
The administration attempted to end the Trump-era health order earlier this month, which has allowed border officials to quickly expel migrants without hearing asylum claims.
A Louisiana federal judge blocked the move on May 20, keeping the policy in place. Regardless, some border towns have still seen increases in the number of migrants crossing over.
