Residents of New Mexico have stumbled on bodies in the desert, while workers have had to get used to the smell of decaying bodies found in the Rio Grande
More migrants are dying at the United States-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas, than at any other time in the past 25 years, with more women losing their lives and agencies lacking capacity to identify all those lost, according to a report out Friday.
One hundred and forty nine migrants died in the El Paso sector in the year to the end of September, according to the El Paso Times, marking a 2,383% increase over the six deaths recorded six years ago. Some Border Patrol officers are finding two or three bodies per day, according to the report.
The United States Customs and Border Protection sector includes all of New Mexico, but the number of fatalities recorded does not include those who died across the border in neighboring Juárez before they could make it into the U.S.
Residents of New Mexico have stumbled on bodies in the desert, the outlet reported, while workers have had to get used to the smell of decaying bodies found in the Rio Grande.
Children have discovered bodies in backyards, while horse riders have also spotted bodies propped up on the side of the road.
The report said the number of women dying more than doubled from 2022 and tripled on 2021's numbers.
“I don’t remember a time when things were like this and not feeling any hope as I look toward the future,” Ruben Garcia, the executive director of El Paso’s Annunciation House, which provides assistance to migrants, told the Times.
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“Where is the humanity? Where are the ethics? The morality? The justice in all of these human beings who are dying in the desert?," he continued. "In order to respond, your soul has to be moved. Then you discover there aren’t a lot of people in government who operate in response to that.”
Agencies in the region are either not tracking migrant deaths, or do not have the staff or resources to adequately record them. DNA testing can be expensive and so many families are left without answers as to what happened to their loved ones who headed for the U.S.
"The number of deaths is horrific," U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, told the Times. "And the way that people are dying is equally horrific. From my perspective, it is proof that deterrence at the border does not work. It does not stop migration. It only makes migration deadlier."
CBP reportedly denied the El Paso Times' requests for official, up-to-date statistics, with 2021 the last year publicly available. The agency said that data from more recent years must be presented to Congress first.
The Messenger approached CBP for further comment but did not immediately receive a response.
The surge in deaths around the southwest border comes alongside an overall increase in new arrivals hoping to gain entry. Border crossings have been closed or seen activity scaled back while officers deal with migrants using illegal crossing points such as gaps in the wall.
CBP officials have previously told The Messenger that migrants need to seek legal pathways into the U.S., including using the CBP One app to make appointments at crossing points.
Those who enter illegally face expulsion or detention pending hearings at a later date.
“Make no mistake, the rise in migrant deaths is neither circumstantial nor purely accidental, but due to the ill-conceived border enforcement strategies and operations happening at our southern border," Fernando Garcia, executive director of the Border Network for Human Rights, told The Messenger.
Garcia directly referenced Texas Governor Greg Abbott's Operation Lone Star (OLS), saying it was yet another example of how governments have chosen to address immigration flows with cruelty, militarization, and inhumane deterrence policies.
"What we are witnessing at the border is the full dehumanization of migrants and refugees," Garcia continued. "On one side of the border, you will find armed soldiers, staged military vehicles, and concertina wire. On the other side, you see pregnant women, children, and entire families trying to reach safety and refuge. For more than two years, Operation Lone Star has stripped hundreds of innocent lives of their human and constitutional rights and horrifically increased deaths in our region,”
Groups like Garcia's and Human Rights Watch are calling for a change in policies which seek to deter migrants, such as Texas' Operation Lone Star, saying those are causing deaths to rise.