Smugglers telling migrants to run in triple-digit heat
El Paso Sector fatalities reach 96 as temperatures soar in southern New Mexico desert
by: Julian Resendiz
Posted: Jul 21, 2023 / 06:56 PM CDT
Updated: Jul 21, 2023 / 06:56 PM CDT
SUNLAND PARK, New Mexico (Border Patrol) – The U.S. Border Patrol is again calling on migrants not to trust smugglers who are telling them it’s safe to cross the southern New Mexico desert in triple-digit heat.
The plea comes as the number of deceased individuals found by border agents in the El Paso Sector this fiscal year reached 96 this week. Most of the bodies (69) were found in the Santa Teresa Border Patrol Station area of responsibility. It stretches from Mount Cristo Rey in Sunland Park to near Columbus, New Mexico. Border agents only found 29 bodies in that area in all of fiscal year 2022.
The Border Patrol says only medical examiners in the county where the bodies are found can definitively determine the identities of the bodies. But agency officials suspect most of them are migrants.
“We are currently recording a significant number of migrant deaths in New Mexico due to the desert terrain and extreme heat. Migrants do not have sufficient water and there is minimal shade,” the Border Patrol said in a statement to Border Report.
https://www.borderreport.com/regions/new-mexico/smugglers-telling-migrants-to-run-in-triple-digit-heat/
