An older foreign national died earlier this month after falling off a wall along the U.S. southern border near San Diego, California, and if not for American Border Patrol agents and first responders, he would have died alone.

At 5:42 in the morning on November 8, a group of suspected illegal aliens were spotted attempting to cross the double-barrier wall just west of the Otay Mesa Port of Entry in San Diego.

Apparently recognizing that they had law enforcement on their heels, the group scattered. One person returned to Mexico. Three managed to scale the second barrier wall using an "improvised pompier ladder" and head north, according to a press release from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

However, two men were still atop the second barrier when Border Patrol agents arrived in the zone between the two barrier walls. One man managed to make his descent into America and head north but was apprehended a short time later.

His fellow traveler — later identified by the San Diego Medical Examiner’s Office as Edgar Guillermo Hernández, a 62-year-old Colombian national — was not so fortunate.

At about 5:44 a.m., Hernández "fell as he descended, and landed on the north side of the secondary barrier," said the press release, which also noted that the secondary barrier is "approximately 30 feet tall and ... constructed of vertical metal bollards."

'This was one of the most dangerous areas. We have a double wall. We have a wall on both sides.'

From behind the barrier, Border Patrol agents noted that despite the fall, Hernández was still alive and moaning in pain. They quickly radioed for emergency medical assistance.

It seems there may have been some confusion about their exact location, because by 6:09, a Border Patrol supervisor had ordered agents to "escort" EMTs to the right spot, the press release said. They arrived about five minutes later, but within 60 seconds of their arrival, Hernández had become "physically unresponsive and stopped moving."

Hernández was pronounced dead at 6:25 a.m.

The medical examiner's office conducted an autopsy and determined that Hernández died of blunt-force injuries, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

An investigator from the medical examiner's office initially "took custody" of Hernández's body, the press release stated, but whether his body remains with the medical examiner is unclear.

The Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General has been notified of the incident, and the CBP Office of Professional Responsibility is "reviewing" it, the press release said.

During his first term, President-elect Donald Trump paid a visit to the Otay Mesa Port of Entry to celebrate progress on the border wall, one of his central campaign promises.

"This is an area — because it’s so highly trafficked, this was one of the most dangerous areas. We have a double wall. We have a wall on both sides," Trump said in a speech in September 2019.

"It’s a very powerful, very powerful wall," he added, "the likes of which, probably, to this extent, has not been built before."

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