Sinema talks migrant health care in Somerton
KAWC
By Victor Calderon
U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema hosted a roundtable Wednesday in Somerton with officials from the Regional Center for Border Health and Yuma Regional Medical Center to discuss the challenges they are facing in serving migrants brought to them by Border Patrol agents.
RCBH has been providing COVID-19 testing and vaccines for migrants in cooperation with the U.S. Border Patrol. RCBH President and CEO Amanda Aguirre said following testing about 300 migrants per day are driven by bus to Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix and migrant shelters in Arizona and California. Only about two percent of migrants test positive for COVID and have to quarantine here.
“We hope the Senator and other dignitaries that have been looking at the border and coming to visit with us understand the complexity of the situation that we’re in and help us to address the issue of the migrants’ migration,” Aguirre said.
While in Yuma County, Sinema also met with Border Patrol officials and area ag leaders.