Migrant deaths at the U.S.-Mexico border hit a record high, in part due to drownings

Migrants waiting to be picked up by the U.S. Border Patrol under an international bridge in Eagle Pass, Texas, earlier this month. (Verónica G. Cárdenas for NPR)

The river that divides Texas and Mexico is known on the U.S. side as the Rio Grande. On the other side, it has a different name: El Río Bravo, "the angry river" or "the fierce river."

"It seems like it's a slow moving river, but it's fairly swift. It is very deceptive, very dangerous," says Manuel Mello, the fire chief in Eagle Pass, a small city in South Texas that's become one of the busiest crossing spots on the entire border.