Son in ICE Custody, Wife Released: US Border Agency on Family of Gujarat Man

Brijkumar Yadav died while scaling a 30-foot Mexico-US border wall with his wife and 3-year-old son.

Mexico-US Border Wall

Photo: iStock 

An Indian man who died while scaling the wall at the US-Mexico border on 14 December has been identified as Gujarat resident Brijkumar Yadav.

The US media reported last week that Yadav died while scaling a 30-foot wall with his wife and 3-year-old son. Mexico’s Tijuana Police said that Yadav and his son fell on the Mexican side, while his wife landed on US territory.

Initially, the US media had identified the deceased as 50-year-old Brijkumar Daxiniprasad Yadad. But as per the Times of India, Brijkumar Yadav was a 32-year-old resident of Borisana village near Kalol in Gujarat.

What We Know About the Incident

According to the Border Report, the family was part of a large group of migrants attempting to cross the border between San Diego and Tijuana.

Yadav, carrying his son, was trying to scale the border wall and his wife was also with him. For an unknown reason the entire family plunged to the ground from the top of the wall, Tijuana Police said.

While the man and the child fell on the Mexico side of the border, the woman fell on the US side.

A US Customs and Border Protection spokesperson told The Quint that the incident took place at approximately 1:30 am on 14 December when agents located 26 individuals on the north side (US side) of the border.

USBP agents, while responding to reports of more than 20 individuals entering the United States illegally, saw the unresponsive man on the ground on the Mexico side of the barrier, the agency spokesperson said.

The woman fell on the north side of the barrier and was transported to a nearby hospital for treatment, while the unresponsive individual located south of the barrier was deceased, the spokesperson said.

The child also fell on the south side of the border and was taken into USBP custody where he was processed into the United States.

While the child has been transferred to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the mother was released on own recognisance at the hospital, the CBP said.

The Quint also wrote to the ICE and is yet to receive a response.

Family from Kalol, Gujarat

According to the Times of India report, the family was from Telephone Colony in Borisana village, and embarked on their illegal journey to the US a fortnight ago.

A police officer in Gujarat told the newspaper that Yadav and his family were among 40 people who were supposed to cross the border from Tijuana in Mexico to San Diego in the US.

The family’s village was merely 14km away from Dingucha which hit the headlines earlier this year after an Indian family of four froze to death while attempting to illegally enter the US via the Canada border.

In a village with a population of just over 3,000 people, at least 500 people are currently living in the US, many of whom entered the country illegally.

Here is The Quint's ground report from Dingucha after the death of Jagdish Patel (39), his wife Vaishali Patel (37), and children Vihangi Patel (11) and Dharmik Patel (3) earlier this year. 

The Quint visited the village again in November, when Mathurji, the village Sarpanch, claimed that more than a search for employment, the migration is a 'scheme to elevate their social status.' Here is the full report.

(With inputs from Border Report, Times of India.)