Deaths rise in the desert as migrants try to cross into the U.S. again and again under Biden policy

EL PASO – With the scorching heat of summer and a rising tide of migrants en route to the US, the number of deaths crossing borders has risen sharply – including migrants lost in the desert or drowning in water-filled canals off the Rio Grande .

In fiscal 2020, which ended September 30, border guards discovered 250 bodies of migrants along the border. As of May of this fiscal year, 203 had already been found, with the hottest months still to come. The figures do not include bodies found by other authorities, such as the district sheriff’s departments.

U.S. and Mexican officials and immigrant rights advocates prepare for a surge in bailouts and deaths as the summer heat hits. The number of migrants rescued by the border patrol in the 2021 financial year is 6,898 so far, well above the 5,071 for the entire 2020 financial year.

To bypass the border fence in urban areas, unscrupulous smugglers lead migrants through more remote and risky regions like the harsh desert outside El Paso, where there are fewer border guards.

Ignorant migrants who made the grueling trek in triple-digit heat with limited food and water supplies and no shelter have died within hours. And the death toll is expected to rise, according to experts.

The desert between the border with Mexico and US Highway 90 in Texas near Valentine poses a health risk to migrants.(Lola Gomez / photographer)

“The border has become a bottleneck,” said Ieva Jusionyte, Brown University anthropologist and author of Threshold: Emergency Responders on the US-Mexico Border. “Asylum refugees are waiting in camps and emergency shelters. Families separated. Despair has set in, all in this one area, and nothing has been resolved. Of course, one can expect that the number of injuries and deaths will increase. “

Last week, Gloria Chavez, head of the El Paso Border Guard Sector, invited a group of journalists to walk a little bit up a hill that leads to Mount Cristo Rey, named after a giant limestone Jesus on a cross that stands over the border states of Texas, New Mexico and Chihuahua, Mexico. She wanted reporters to experience firsthand the three-digit temperatures migrants are exposed to every day – too often with fatal consequences.

“Transnational organizations continue to ruthlessly disregard the lives of migrants they smuggle into the country,” Chavez said.

“Transnational organizations continue to ruthlessly disregard the lives of migrants they smuggle into the country,” said Gloria Chavez, head of the US Border Patrol’s El Paso sector.(Lola Gomez / photographer)

The bailouts included 186 special operations, agents said. Last week, US Customs and Border Protection Air and Naval Operations pilots rescued a harrowing rescue of an injured woman in a race against time in Culberson County, about two hours east of El Paso, in a rugged, remote desert area in a race against time. She suffered from heat exhaustion and did not respond.

“People smuggling organizations continue to illegally push these vulnerable migrants across the border in the deserts and mountains of West Texas and New Mexico in over 100 degrees weather, putting their lives at risk,” said John Stonehouse, director of air and marine operations at the CBP office El Paso. “They often leave these people in remote areas with no food or water. It shows how little these criminal organizations care about the safety and well-being of the people who exploit them. “

Days earlier, border guards in Culberson County found 33 migrants suffering from severe heat-related illness in a U-Haul truck in Van Horn. The agents and deputies of the district sheriff provided emergency aid to the people locked in the muggy truck. Some of the migrants were taken to a hospital.

“That happens at least – at least – once a day,” said Sheriff Oscar Carrillo. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

In Mexico, Pastor Rosalio Sosa, who runs a network of shelters along the border, said the situation is dire. “We get four to five migrants a day in need, dehydrated, close to death,” he said.

While much of U.S. migration has centered on unaccompanied children, the latest CBP data shows that of 180,034 migrants encountered in May, the vast majority were single adults.

Most were returned to Mexico under Title 42, a public health service called upon during the coronavirus pandemic designed to reduce the spread of COVID-19. It enables the rapid repatriation of migrants to Mexico.

But smugglers are now paid for multiple attempts to get their customers across the border: if migrants are quickly thrown back to Mexico, many try again – up to five times, according to law enforcement and migrants.

“Normally we would see a decline in migrants in the summer because of the heat and the queues,” Sosa said, “but the coyotes work 365 days a year, 24/7.”

Many migrants entering the United States from Mexico, near the Texas-New Mexico border, pass a giant limestone Jesus on a cross on the summit of Mount Cristo Rey.(Lola Gomez / photographer)

Jose Lopez, 24, is in a shelter in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. He says he nearly died in the desert along the New Mexico-Texas line after crossing the border. “I ran out of water,” he said. “I was lucky that la migra [immigration authorities] found me. I didn’t run away from them; I ran away from death. “

He was immediately returned to Mexico but said he would not be returning to Guatemala. “I want to heal, regain my strength.” Returning to Guatemala, Lopez added, is “a certain death sentence for me and my family”. The desert, he said, “offers me a chance”.

Fernando Garcia, executive director of the border network for human rights and one of several immigrant lawyers who met Vice President Kamala Harris and her delegation during her visit to the border on Friday, called for an end to Title 42 deportations.

“We are seeing a dramatic, terrible increase in the loss of life,” he said. “We emphasized that title 42 no longer needs to be used. These strategies help seal the border, resulting in so many migrants dying in alarming numbers. This is not a fact. This is the policy of the United States, which is essentially killing people. “

Marisa Limon Garza, Assistant Director of the Hope Border Institute, also met with Harris and her delegation. She said, “I noted the lives lost in the heat during the meeting, coupled with a call, repeated by many, to restore the asylum with a plan so that people’s lives can be saved.”

The Vice President leads national efforts to reduce migration from Central America by addressing the root causes of migration. Speaking at a press conference in El Paso, Harris said, “We have a reason not only to address the root causes of what we see at the border, but also because we are… neighborhood in the western hemisphere. ”

Homeland Security Minister Alejandro Mayorkas called for patience.

“Crossing borders has been a challenge for years,” he said, “and to successfully meet this challenge requires a multi-part plan.”

“We have a plan,” he said, explaining the Vice President’s efforts to get to the root of the problem and his agency’s intention “to create a plan for a safe and legal path for people who are entitled to humanitarian aid “And” the country’s asylum system, “which was dismantled under the previous government.

The belongings on the slopes of Mount Cristo Rey are said to have been left behind by migrants who had just entered the United States.(Lola Gomez / photographer)

On the spot, law enforcement agencies find that smugglers’ exploitation knows no bounds. Many smugglers also take advantage of minors’ vulnerabilities and use social media apps to offer easy cash up to $ 3,000 for U.S. teenagers to transport migrants once they sneak into the United States.

“In the past few months, many of the drivers we stopped were 14 to 19 years old,” said Border Patrol agent Jerry Galvan. “Many of them from Sunland Park, El Paso, some from Las Cruces.”

In Sunland Park, NM, across the El Paso state line, it’s so bad that fire chief Jose Medrano said he retrofitted two municipal fire engines to help with the rescue.

“We are looking forward to a long, hot summer,” said Medrano, whose station has been inundated with rescue operations and at least two dead in recent days.

As the drama unfolds this summer, Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso called for an understanding of a complex subject tainted with political rhetoric.

“We have to deal with them as human beings, away from politics, and ask, ‘Why are they here? Who are these people who have fled their homes in desperation and traveled thousands of miles to risk their lives? ‘”He said. “We can’t just say, ‘You broke the law. Go back.’ We have to ask deeper, more complex questions. We’re better than that. “