President Donald Trump closed much of the activity at the U.S.-Mexico border in January 2025, making it impossible for migrants who arrive at a U.S. port of entry to use for asylum. Trump’s border insurance policies are more likely to make it far more difficult and dangerous for migrants making an attempt to succeed in the U.S. – however gained’t deter all individuals who need to cross the U.S.-Mexico border with out authorized authorization.
The variety of migrants crossing from Mexico into the U.S. with out authorized authorization dropped dramatically in 2024. However for a very long time, crossing the U.S.-Mexico border by land has been the world’s deadliest migration route.
U.S. Customs and Border Safety recovered the stays of 10,784 migrants from 1988 through 2024.
This figure is an estimate of the total number of migrants who’ve died making an attempt to cross from Mexico into the U.S. – there may be no centralized system or organization that tracks migrant deaths, or any federal laws guiding authorities on how to manage the remains of migrants.
Many other dead migrants are also never found.
I’m a professor of anthropology and have spent the previous a number of years making an attempt to grasp how and why migrants die making an attempt to enter the U.S.
Stranded migrants who are actually staying in Mexican border cities and others with plans to nonetheless attempt to illegally cross into the U.S. may pursue more and more harmful methods to enter the nation.
Analysis exhibits that there are three main reasons why migrants die making an attempt to succeed in the U.S. from Mexico. First, migrants are sometimes uncovered to extreme weather conditions. Second, they drown in rivers or other bodies of water. Third, they might additionally expertise blunt pressure trauma due to falls or motor vehicle accidents.
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Environmental publicity is widespread and harmful
Migrants coming from Central and South America usually journey to the U.S. in groups, sometimes with the assistance of a information, known as a coyote, they pay to assist them.
They could spend days or even weeks strolling via distant areas with out entry to shelter or recent meals and clear water. They may sleep outdoors in very chilly climate and stroll throughout excessive warmth. This will trigger hypothermia or hyperthermia.
A type of distant areas is the Sonoran Desert, which spans the southwest U.S. into northwest Mexico. It’s divided by the U.S.-Mexico border and is without doubt one of the hottest places on Earth. Ambient temperatures can soar to or above 118 degrees Fahrenheit, or 48 degrees Celsius.
As a part of the technique to cease migrants from coming to the U.S., Customs and Border Safety doesn’t place many officers within the depths of the desert alongside the border. The federal government’s 1994 migration “prevention via deterrence” technique explains that as a result of the desert itself poses mortal danger to people, it’s pointless to protect the land.
With border limitations, video surveillance, shiny lights and lots of patrol brokers nearer to extra populated areas alongside the U.S.-Mexico border, migrants can view the desert as a viable alternative for entering the U.S. Deterrent practices have been discovered to not stop migrants from trying to enter the U.S., however they do improve the variety of migrants who die making an attempt to take action.
Even migrants who’re close to assist or are rescued from the desert could not get well from publicity to excessive temperatures. In 2023, for instance, a 9-year-old migrant boy died from organ failure after authorities found him alongside the Arizona border.
Drowning poses one other threat
Drowning is another leading cause of dying for migrants making an attempt to succeed in the U.S.
In California, for instance, the 82-mile-long All-American Canal runs parallel to the U.S.-Mexico border. Though the canal doesn’t look notably harmful, it’s deep, cold, fast-moving and has steep concrete edges that are difficult to scale. Migrants won’t be capable of swim, or others, particularly women and children, aren’t robust sufficient to resist the pressure of the currents.
Areas of the Rio Grande, a river that divides the U.S. and Mexico in some areas of Texas, have develop into scorching spots for migrant drownings. Roughly 1,107 migrants died trying to cross this river between 2017 to 2023. The river is fast and deep and is full of rocks and heavy vegetation that make crossing troublesome.
Moreover, in an effort to additional deter migrant crossing at Eagle Cross, an space of the Rio Grande, the Texas National Guard installed greater than 100 miles of razor wire alongside the river’s banks in 2024. They arrange a large string of oversized orange buoys within the water, creating what the federal authorities known as a navigation obstruction for migrants.
These techniques have sparked larger debates on how to handle migration, and which authorities company is answerable for stopping folks from crossing into the nation, or apprehending them after they achieve this.
In 2024, a Mexican girl and her two kids tried to cross the Rio Grande however struggled to take action. As Customs and Border Safety brokers ready to rescue the distressed and drowning people, the Texas National Guard prevented rescue attempts. The family died from drowning, and their our bodies had been later recovered.
Blunt pressure trauma
One other main explanation for dying of migrants is falling from heights or experiencing automobile accidents.
On the California border area alone, roughly 20% of migrant deaths were due to blunt force trauma between 2018 via 2023. This charge rose after the 2020 growth of the border wall, which now spans 741 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border. In complete, the border is sort of 2,000 miles.
In one incident in Texas in 2020, a pregnant 19-year-old Guatemalan woman died after falling from the border wall, which ranges from 18 to 30 toes. Medical authorities had been unable to save lots of the fetus.
In Texas, between 2021 and 2023, high-speed chases by immigration officials led to the deaths of 74 people. Some people had been ejected from transferring automobiles, whereas others had been hit by fast-moving automobiles. One other notably lethal accident occurred in 2021 in Holtville, California, when an SUV transporting 25 migrants collided with a semitruck. 13 migrants had been killed.
Gregory Bull/Associated Press
‘Prevention via deterrence’
For greater than 30 years, the U.S. authorities has tried to forestall migrants from reaching the U.S. via totally different methods, like deploying Border Patrol brokers or constructing partitions.
There are various sensible and policy-based interventions that might make it safer for migrants to cross through the U.S. and Mexico deserts. For instance, water stations along known migration routes of the desert save lives.
No matter how the Trump administration tries to cease migrants from reaching the U.S., folks will seemingly nonetheless attempt to come and embark on unsafe journeys to take action – and I’ll proceed to trace their experiences and deaths.
