Contributed Photo/Courtesy U.S. Customs and Border Protection: Air and Marines Operations personnel lift the migrant to the helicopter.
Contributed Article/Courtesy U.S. Customs and Border Protection
SASABE – U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Air and Marine Operations (AMO) agents, and the U.S. Border Patrol’s Arizona Air Coordination Center coordinate to rescue an injured migrant in the Baboquivari Mountains.
On the afternoon of March 30, the AMO Tucson Air Branch received a call from the Arizona Air Coordination Center requesting a hoist capable UH-60 Black Hawk for a migrant with a possible broken leg at over 6,000 feet in elevation. Once on the scene, the Black Hawk crew spotted a signal fire that the man had started and lowered an AMO Aviation Enforcement Agent Emergency Medical Technician to the mountains below. The agent performed an assessment of the situation on the ground and stabilized the man for hoist up to the hovering helicopter. Back in the helicopter, the AMO and USBP EMTs stabilized the man, and the Black Hawk crew transported the man to the Three Points fire department for further treatment.
“Frequently, smugglers will send migrants across the border in small groups to overwhelm CBP resources in the area,” said Deputy Director, Tucson Air Branch, Hunter Robinson. “Unfortunately, these routes can be extremely treacherous and this individual was very fortunate he survived and we could use AMO resources to get him to safety. ”
AMO safeguards our Nation by anticipating and confronting security threats through our aviation and maritime law enforcement expertise, innovative capabilities, and partnerships at the border and beyond. With federal agents and mission support personnel, aircraft, and marine vessels operating throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands, AMO conducts its mission in the air and maritime environments at and beyond the border, and within the nation’s interior.
