Migrant deaths in New Mexico have increased tenfold

Ten times as many migrants died in New Mexico near the U.S.-Mexico border in each of the last two years compared with just five years ago as smuggling gangs steer them — exhausted, dehydrated and malnourished — mostly into the hot desert, canyons or mountains west of El Paso, Texas.

During the first eight months of 2024, the bodies of 108 presumed migrants mostly from Mexico and Central America were found near the border in New Mexico and often less than 10 miles (6 kilometers) from El Paso, according to the most recent data. The remains of 113 presumed migrants were found in New Mexico in 2023, compared with nine in 2020 and 10 in 2019.

It's not clear exactly why more migrants are being found dead in that area, but many experts say smugglers are treating migrants more harshly and bringing them on paths that could be more dangerous in extreme summer temperatures.

The influx has taxed the University of New Mexico's Office of the Medical Investigator, which identifies the dead and conducts autopsies that almost always show the cause as heat-related.

"Our reaction was sadness, horror and surprise because it had been very consistently low for as long as anyone can remember," said Heather Edgar, a forensic anthropologist with the office.

Serving the entire state, the office over two years has added deputy medical investigators to handle the extra deaths on top of the usual 2,500 forensic cases.

"We'd always had three deputies down 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 heading into the Nov. 5 presidential contest, but the candidates have focused on keeping migrants out of the U.S. and deporting those already here.

The increase in deaths is a humanitarian concern for advocates as smugglers guide migrants into New Mexico through fencing gaps at the border city 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 1,000 feet from roads," noted Adam Isacson, an analyst for the nongovernmental Washington Office on Latin America. He said water stations, improved telecommunications and more rescue efforts could help.

New Mexico officials are targeting human-smuggling networks, recently arresting 16 people and rescuing 91 trafficking victims. U.S. Customs and Border Protection added a surveillance blimp to monitor the migration corridor near its office in Santa Teresa, in New Mexico's Doña Ana County. Movable 33-foot (10-meter) towers use radar to scan the area.

U.S. officials in recent years have added 30 more push-button beacons that summon emergency medical workers along remote stretches of the border at New Mexico and western Texas. They have also set up more than 500 placards with location coordinates and instructions to call 911 for help.

This summer, the Border Patrol expanded search and rescue efforts, dispatching more patrols with medical specialists and surveillance equipment. The agency moved some beacons closer to the border, where more migrants have been found dead or in distress.

Border Patrol says it rescued nearly 1,000 migrants near the U.S. border in New Mexico and western Texas over the past 12 months — up from about 600 the previous 12 months.

Dylan Corbett, executive director of the faith-based Hope Border Institute in El Paso, said 10-member church teams recently started dropping water bottles for migrants in the deadly New Mexico corridor alongside fluttering blue flags.

"Part of the problem is that organized crime has become very systematic in the area," Corbett said of the increased deaths. He also blamed heightened border enforcement in Texas and new U.S. asylum restrictions that President Joe Biden introduced in June and tightened last month.

New Mexico's rising deaths come as human-caused climate change increases the likelihood of heat waves. This year, the El Paso area had its hottest June ever, with an average temperature of 89.4 degrees Fahrenheit. June 12 and 13 saw daily record highs of 109 F.

Those high temperatures can be deadly for people who have been on strenuous journeys. Some smugglers lead migrants on longer routes into gullies or by the towering Mount Cristo Rey statue of Jesus Christ that 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 houses smugglers keep in Mexico.

“They're expected to walk, sometimes for hours or days, to get to their destination where they're going to be picked up,” he said.

The deaths have continued even as migration has fallen along the entire border following Biden's major asylum restrictions.

New Mexico's migrant death numbers now rival those in Arizona's even hotter Sonoran desert, where the remains of 114 presumed border crossers 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 ages 20 to 29 made up the largest segment of these deaths.

“We are awaiting for you at home,” a family in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas implored in early June in a missing person post for a 25-year-old female relative who was found dead days later. “Please come back.”

After a 24-year-old Guatemalan woman's remains were discovered that same month, a mortuary in her hometown posted a death notice with a photo of her smiling in a blue dress and holding a floral bouquet.

“It should not be a death sentence to come to the United States,” Doña Ana County Sheriff's Maj. Jon Day told a recent community gathering. “And when we push them into the desert areas here, they're coming across and they're dying.”

Copyright 2024, NPR