Migrant deaths in New Mexico have increased tenfold
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Ten times as many migrants died in New Mexico near the US-Mexico border in each of the past two years, compared with just five years ago, when smuggling rings sent them — exhausted, dehydrated and malnourished — mostly to the hot desert, canyons or mountains west of El Paso, Texas.
According to the most recent data, during the first eight months of 2024, the bodies of 108 suspected migrants, mostly from Mexico and Central America, were found near the border in New Mexico and often within 4 miles of El Paso. In 2023, the remains of 113 suspected migrants were found in New Mexico, compared to nine in 2020 and ten in 2019.
It’s not clear exactly why more migrants are being found dead in that area, but many experts say smugglers treat migrants more harshly and put them on paths that can be more dangerous in extreme summer temperatures.
The influx has placed a strain on the University of New Mexico Medical Examiner’s Office, which identifies the dead and conducts autopsies that almost always show the cause to be heat-related.
“Our reaction was sadness, horror and surprise, because it was very consistently low for as long as anyone can remember,” said Heather Edgar, a forensic anthropologist with the office.
The agency serves the entire state and has added deputy medical examiners for two years to handle the additional deaths, on top of the usual 2,500 forensic cases.
“We used to have three deputies in that area, and I think we have nine or 10 now,” Edgar said of New Mexico’s Eastern Migration Corridor.
Immigration and border security are among voters’ top concerns ahead of the Nov. 5 presidential election, but the candidates have focused on keeping migrants out of the US and deporting those already here.
The increase in the number of deaths is a humanitarian care for advocates as smugglers who lead migrants into New Mexico through gaps in the fence at the border town of Sunland Park and over low-lying barriers west of the nearby Santa Teresa Port of Entry.
“People are dying close to urban areas, in some cases just 300 meters from roads,” said Adam Isacson, an analyst for the nongovernmental Washington Office on Latin America. He said water stations, improved telecommunications and more rescues could help.
New Mexico officials are targeting human trafficking rings, recently arresting 16 people and rescuing 91 human trafficking victims. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has added a surveillance bubble to monitor the migration corridor near its office in Santa Teresa, New Mexico’s Doña Ana County. Movable 10-meter (33-foot) towers use radar to scan the area.
U.S. officials have added 30 additional push-button beacons in recent years that summon emergency medical services along remote parts of the border near New Mexico and West Texas. They have also put up more than 500 signs with location coordinates and instructions to call 911 for help.
This summer, the Border Patrol expanded search and rescue efforts and sent out more patrols with medical specialists and surveillance equipment. The agency has placed some beacons closer to the border, where more migrants have been found dead or in distress.
Border Patrol says it has rescued nearly 1,000 migrants near the U.S. border in New Mexico and west Texas in the past 12 months — up from about 600 in the previous 12 months.
Dylan Corbett, executive director of the faith-based Hope Border Institute in El Paso, said 10-member church teams recently began dropping water bottles for migrants in New Mexico’s deadly corridor, alongside flying blue flags.
“Part of the problem is that organized crime in the area has become very systematic,” Corbett said of the increased deaths. He also blamed increased border enforcement in Texas and new US asylum restrictions that President Joe Biden introduced in June and tightened last month.
New Mexico’s rising deaths come as man-made climate change increases the risk of heat waves. This year, the El Paso area experienced its warmest June on record, with an average temperature of 89.4 degrees Fahrenheit (31.8 degrees Celsius). June 12 and 13 saw daily record highs of 109°F (42.7°C).
Those high temperatures can be fatal for people who have made a strenuous journey. Some smugglers lead migrants along longer routes into gullies or past the towering Mount Cristo Rey statue of Jesus Christ, which casts a shadow over neighboring Mexico.
Deputy Chief Border Patrol Agent Juan Bernal of the El Paso Sector said migrants are weak when they arrive at the border after weeks or months without adequate food and water in the homes smugglers keep in Mexico.
“They are expected to walk sometimes for hours or days to reach their destination where they will be picked up,” he said.
The deaths have continued even as migration along the entire border has subsequently declined Biden’s top asylum restrictions.
Death rates among migrants in New Mexico are now comparable to those in Arizona’s even hotter Sonoran Desert, where remains have been found 114 suspected border violators were discovered during the first eight months of 2024, according to a mapping project by the nonprofit Humane Borders and the Pima County Medical Examiner’s Office in Tucson.
Nearly half of those who died in New Mexico this year were women. Women aged 20 to 29 years made up the majority of these deaths.
“We are waiting for you at home,” a family in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas pleaded in early June at a missing persons station for a 25-year-old female relative who was found dead days later. “Please come back.”
After the remains of a 24-year-old Guatemalan woman were discovered that same month, a mortuary in her hometown posted an obituary with a photo of her smiling in a blue dress and holding a flower bouquet.
“It shouldn’t be a death sentence to come to the United States,” Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Major Jon Day told a recent community meeting. “And if we push them into the desert areas here, they’ll come along and die.”
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Snow reported from Phoenix. Lee reported from Santa Fe, New Mexico.