Most of the deaths of migrants at the borders were related to exposure to heat, the agency reported. Migrants often face dangerous terrain and can get lost when trying to break into the US.
The Border Patrol reports deaths when agents find a body or participate in an emergency. The agency monitors deaths at the borders to better understand the dangers of illegal crossing into the United States.
However, the numbers are not representative of all migrant deaths at borders, as other state and local agencies can find corpses without the involvement of a border patrol, meaning the death toll is likely to be higher.
President Joe Biden, on a recent visit to CNN City Hall, asked why he didn’t visit the southern border, he said, “Well, I should probably go down.”
The U.S. Border Patrol arrested nearly 1.66 million in the fiscal year 2021 over illegal border crossings between the U.S. and Mexico, the highest annual number of arrests to date, according to year-end data released by the agency last week.
“In general, in the end it happens that people get lost, people don’t understand the harshness of the environment and how dangerous it is and how fast someone can dehydrate, how fast someone can get lost,” the former customs and border office said. officially.
As the volume of migrant crossings increases, so does the number of criminals who “leave and abuse” people, the official said.
Rescue along the border also skyrocketed in the financial year 2021, more than doubling compared to the previous year, a sign that the border patrol it consumes more resources and manages difficult situations.
In the previous budget year, there were 12,854 rescues of the border patrol, which is far more than the previous four years, as long as the agency followed these data. The previous record was set in 2019 with 5,335 solutions.
In June, as rescue operations were already on the rise, customs and border guards announced that smuggling organizations were leaving migrants in remote and dangerous areas, resulting in a dramatic increase in the number of rescues.
.