ALABAMA - Extreme weather conditions, treacherous deserted lands and the dangers presented by criminal groups and smugglers along the U.S.-Mexico border have led to a record number of migrant deaths. That is why immigration advocates are calling for officials to relax asylum restrictions within ports of entry in an attempt to reduce the death toll.
As Fiscal Year 2024 came to an end, authorities reported that the number of deaths in some regions of the Southwest border surpassed last year's total, like in El Paso, where a total of 176 migrants died in canals, mountains and the desert, 27 more deaths than the previous record of 149 deceased migrants in FY 2023.
In order to aid migrants who are crossing the hot and arid lands, U.S. Customs and Border Protection have deployed surveillance aerostats and emergency beacons with instructions to dial 9-1-1 when lost, but none of these measures have really put a stop to the high number of deaths.
"It's heartbreaking," Alan Lizarraga, a spokesman for the Border Network for Human Rights told Border Report. "There is a lot of frustration to know that person was a father, a mother, somebody's son or uncle. People arriving here are people who have families, people who work hard and have dreams. Sadly, when they arrive at the border they become just another number."
Advocacy groups such as BNHR and the Hope Border Institute say that, after President Biden's executive order went into effect on June 4, there was a steep increase in migrant fatalities.
Under the new rules, asylum-seekers are now required to make an online appointment at a port of entry through the CBP One app. But according to activists, the app has its issues and leaves many vulnerable populations stuck in Mexico while they wait for their appointment.
As migrants get desperate due to lack of money, dire living situations and being easy targets to all sorts of crimes, they seek to enter the U.S. by any means available, even if that might put their lives at risk.
Lizarraga added that the high number of fatalities "represents the horrors and cruelty of our immigration system and of the operations that are happening in our southern border. People migrating are being met with harsh words, force (and) concertina wire."
The U.S. state taking the most drastic measures to stop the flow of illegal immigration has been Texas. Under Gov. Greg Abbott's leadership, Texas has resorted to the use of triple-strand" razor wire along some parts of the border such as El Paso-Ciudad Juárez, in order to deter migrants from crossing into the U.S.
Abbott also launched in March 2021 "Operation Lone Star," a border security initiative in response to rising border crossings, which gave him the authority to deploy the Texas National Guard to the border.
Abbott's measures have led migrants and smugglers to find a different route to enter the U.S, more concretely near the New Mexico and Arizona borders.
The portion of the El Paso Sector of the U.S. Border Patrol that runs from Mount Cristo Rey in Sunland Park, New Mexico, to the Arizona state line accounted for almost 9,000 encounters in the region in August. It was also the region that recorded the largest number of migrant deaths during the summer.
In the Arizona border, Humane Border's data on deceased migrants revealed that there have been more than 4,100 sets of remains discovered in Southern Arizona since 1990, including 114 reported so far this year.
"There are a number of issues with CBP One: Giving appointments at random times, making people wait for long periods of time, language barriers and other factors the app does not account for. It's just a recipe for this kind of death crisis that we are seeing," Santillan said.
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