EAGLE PASS, Texas — An ongoing heatwave impacting much of the nation and the swift-moving currents of the Rio Grande proved deadly for migrants attempting to enter the United States during the month of July. According to a source within Customs and Border Protection, 125 migrants perished attempting to cross the U.S. southwest border in July.
The Border Patrol recorded 37 migrant deaths during the month of July in the El Paso Sector. Most of the deaths, according to the source, involved heat-related injuries. The total migrant deaths in July for the El Paso, Tucson, and Del Rio Border Patrol Sectors averaged more than 3 per day.
Temperatures in certain parts of the southwest remained more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit for weeks. In Arizona, temperatures spiked above 110 degrees for more than 30 consecutive days. The record-breaking heat contributed to 36 migrant deaths in the Tucson Sector alone, according to the source. The Arizona Border Patrol sector recorded the second-highest total for migrant recoveries in July.
The third-highest number of migrant deaths recorded by the Border Patrol occurred in the Del Rio Sector where the remains of 31 deceased migrants were recovered. In that sector, the source says most recoveries involved heat-related illness. This was followed in numbers by drownings in the Rio Grande.
The source says the migrant deaths recorded by the Border Patrol do not accurately portray the total number of migrants who died during the month attempting to cross the border. The Border Patrol does not maintain a record of deceased migrants recovered by authorities in Mexico or those recovered by other U.S. law enforcement agencies in areas away from the border where there is no involvement by the Border Patrol in the recovery.
As reported by Breitbart Texas, on Wednesday, two bodies were discovered by law enforcement near a floating border barrier installed as part of Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star just south of Eagle Pass. The Texas Department of Public Safety Highway Patrol troopers manning the floating barrier believe the migrants may have drowned upstream of the buoys before the discovery. Law enforcement authorities in Mexico are working to identify the bodies after they were recovered near the barriers.
The Border Patrol will not record these recoveries in their accounting of migrant deaths as the recoveries occurred in Mexico. With two months left in the current fiscal year, nearly 550 migrant deaths have been recorded by the Border Patrol alone according to the source.
In 2022, a study by the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration (IOM) declared the United States-Mexico land border to be the most dangerous land crossing in the world. U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded more than 800 deaths during the year. The designation by the IOM is likely to remain unchanged when the total of migrant deaths on both sides of the U.S./Mexico border is finalized for 2023.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on Twitter @RandyClarkBBTX.