SUNLAND PARK, N.M. – As the heat reaches dangerous levels in southern New Mexico, Sunland Park Mayor Javier Perea says so do the 911 calls. 

“Fire department responding to people falling over the wall, fire department responding to people dehydrating out in the desert. So these are the calls we’re expecting and that takes a burden on our community every single day,” Perea said.

Sunland Park is an area where we see most undocumented immigrants crossing into our state. The border wall stretches for miles before it gives way to Mount Cristo Rey.

Perea says human traffickers take advantage of that gap.

“Have a lot of families, single-parent households, a mother with her kids, there’s two or three strangers hiding underneath your mobile home or inside your vehicle. That can be a scary situation because you never know who’s there,” Perea said.  

But he’s encouraged by President Biden’s executive order Tuesday that will temporarily shut down the border to asylum seekers if crossings top 2,500 any given day. Right now, the feds say the average number of encounters at the border is 4,000 a day. 

Under this executive order, the border would only reopen once that daily number drops below 1,500 which hasn’t happened since July 2020. 

“It’s a step in the right direction because as government agencies we have to understand what our capacities are, and if we continue to function way beyond our capacities we’re not going to be able to do our job appropriately,” Perea said.

But Perea says he’s not counting on it being a miracle fix. He says we need more Border Patrol agents, technology to improve surveillance, and a revamped immigration system to make legal pathways more enticing. 

Until then, he says Sunland Park’s resources will continue to be overwhelmed.

“People underestimate the desert, the mountain here Cristo Rey, there’s steep cliffs. We’ve had people fall over break their necks, we’ve had people die because of that. People fall over the wall when they cross over the wall with broken necks, broken legs. It is dangerous out there and sometimes people underestimate the dangers of crossing over,” Perea said.

National Republicans claim the president is only taking action to boost his approval ratings ahead of the November election. 

The New Mexico Republican Party sent a statement calling the executive order political theater and criticizing Biden for reversing all of former President Donald Trump’s border security measures.