https://www.texastribune.org/2023/08/28/texas-national-guard-shoots-mexican-citizen-border/
According to El Diario, a Spanish language newspaper in Juárez, Darwin José García of the southern Mexican state of Veracruz initially told police he was migrant attempting to cross into the U.S. But the man later told reporters he was practicing a sport on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande around 8:50 p.m. Saturday while a group of migrants were crossing the river, according to the newspaper. García said he then heard shots and realized he had been shot in the leg, the newspaper reported.
Attempting to push through Phoenix will only get you bogged down in the endless miles of suburb between you and the city-center. The canals and tributaries off the Colorado river would be a much better goal... for the fictional story I'm writing, set in an alternate 199X timeline, of course.