Families flee Sasabe as ongoing cartel violence grips border town

Families are continuing to flee Sasabe, Sonora, as an ongoing wave of violence from warring criminal factions continues to grip the border town over a month after the conflict started.

The conflict first broke out Oct. 21 when rival criminal gangs began fighting in town. Members of the criminal organizations have started burning residents’ homes down while also moving into empty houses abandoned by residents.

Humanitarian aid volunteers have thus far helped two Sasabe families request and be granted humanitarian parole through the Sasabe Port of Entry. One family was processed into the U.S. on Nov. 19.

Only about 15 families remain in the town that once boasted a population of roughly 2,500 residents, according to Gail Kocourek, the education and media coordinator with Tucson Samaritans. Kocourek has been volunteering in Sasabe for years and helps with the operations of the Casa de la Esperanza, a migrant resource center in town.

The center has been shuttered since the violence started. The border town is more than 200 miles north of Hermosillo, Sonora, and about 74 miles south of Tucson.

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When the violence began, numerous “hysterical” residents began calling and begging Kocourek and Dora Rodriguez, director of the Tucson-based Salvavision, to do anything they could to help.

Multiple Sasabe residents have tried to present at the port of entry and request humanitarian parole. Many have been turned away, Kocourek said. A 8-month pregnant woman was turned away from the port when she requested assistance, according to Kocourek.

“They’re caught in the crossfire,” Kocourek said. “It’s getting worse and worse.”

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is aware of the recent violence in town and has evaluated people who present at the port on a “case-by-case basis,” according to a written statement from a CBP spokesperson.

“Many residents of this town found haven at the Mexican Immigration Authorities (INM) and Mexican Customs until the violence subsided,” the spokesperson added.

Some residents have resorted to crossing the U.S.-Mexico border without authorization through holes in the border wall. Asylum seekers from Sasabe have begun to sit outside of the Sasabe, Arizona, town store to wait for Border Patrol to pick them up.

The violence may have influenced an increase of migrants crossing the Arizona-Mexico border through the San Miguel Gate on the Tohono O’odham Nation. In November, Border Patrol encountered two groups of roughly 1,000 migrants near San Miguel, Arizona, on the Tohono O’odham Nation.

The first family that Kocourek helped bring across included a woman who was studying to become a nurse. Both rival gangs were asking for her medical services and threatening her if she didn’t help.

The town’s resident doctor left the first day the conflict broke out. The woman was only granted humanitarian parole for 30 days.

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On Oct. 31, at least four Mexican military agents and a Sonora state police officer were shot and injured by criminal gang members in Altar, Sonora, about 72 miles south of Sasabe.

Migrant encounters along the U.S.-Mexico border decreased for the first time in three months in October, according to CBP data. In October, 240,988 encounters were recorded along the Southwestern border, decreasing by 11% from the month before.

The dip in numbers largely was driven by a decrease in the number of Venezuelan migrants encountered. CBP attributed the drop to the resumption of deportation flights to Venezuela.

Despite the decrease in overall numbers, the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector remained the busiest corridor for migrant encounters along the border for the fourth straight month. The Border Patrol recorded 55,224 migrant encounters in the Tucson sector in October.

Have a news tip or story idea about the border and its communities? Contact the reporter at josecastaneda@arizonarepublic.com or connect with him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @joseicastaneda.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Sasabe residents flee town as monthlong cartel violence continues