EAGLE PASS, Texas (Border Report) — In a windy field on the southern edge of Shelby Park on the banks of the Rio Grande, over 700 wooden crosses have been placed to honor migrants who died in 2023 trying to cross the Southwest border from Mexico.
The Eagle Pass Border Vigil Coalition on Saturday plans to hold a memorial ceremony where members will sing songs before taking up the crosses, its founder, Amerika Garcia Grewal, told Border Report.
The 700 wooden crosses were put near Bridge 1 in Eagle Pass, Texas, and represent migrants who died in 2023 trying to cross from Mexico into the United States. (Sandra Sanchez/Border Report)
“We’re going to gather the crosses and bring them in and have a prayer service and song to close it off,” she said.
In 2022, there were 668 deaths of migrants trying to cross the Southwest border from Mexico, according to the International Organization for Migration, which is part of the United Nations.
Garcia Grewal says they believe 2023 surpassed that, although official numbers have not yet been released.
She says their estimate of 700 deaths is based on reported deaths from several nonprofits and media outlets, as well as migrants who are listed as missing.
Garcia Grewal worries that in 2024, deaths could increase even more on the border as Mexico steps up its enforcement actions. She especially fears that asylum-seekers will die just south of the Rio Grande and their deaths won’t be reported.
“We really hope that as the United States and Mexico address this issue they continue to look at the humanity and work to preserve not just life but the quality of life for everybody, regardless of their country of origin,” she said.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas visited Eagle Pass on Monday and renewed warnings for migrants not to risk their lives by trying to cross the raging river, or sections of the desert to get into the United States.
He said the Biden administration is working with Latin American nations and establishing mobile officers where migrants can apply for asylum without having to leave their home countries. He also said those who do head north should only enter at U.S. ports of entry.
“We have established Safe Mobility Offices to assist migrants in Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Ecuador; implemented processes to enable different nationalities to access relief in the United States without making the perilous journey in the hands of smugglers,” Mayorkas said.
“We are working with other countries throughout Latin America, including Panama, to address the movement of people throughout the hemisphere. We continue to develop lawful pathways, deliver consequences for those who do not use them, address root causes, and attack the ruthless smuggling organizations that prey on the vulnerable,” he told media after meeting with U.S. Border Patrol agents and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in this border town.
Mayorkas credited Mexico with stepping up enforcement, including added patrols on its southern border and deportation flights.
Border Report this week witnessed Mexican soldiers stop migrants from getting to the river in Piedras Negras and march them back up the banks and away from the United States.
The Rio Grande between Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras, Mexico, tends to flood with the least bit of rain and authorities say migrant drownings are a constant problem in the region.
In Fiscal Year 2023, CBP conducted 37,323 search and rescue operations along the Southwest border, according to agency data. That’s almost a 70% increase from 22,000 search and rescues the agency reported in Fiscal Year 2022.
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.
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