EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – People on the move continue to die in a deadly Southern New Mexico desert corridor.
The U.S. Border Patrol confirmed its agents located three deceased individuals last Monday near its Santa Teresa, New Mexico, station.
The area, extending several miles west from NM Highway 9 near the Santa Teresa border crossing to Mount Cristo Rey in Sunland Park, New Mexico, is one of the most active migrant-smuggling corridors in the Southwest border, federal officials say.
The Border Patrol said Monday’s grim find raises to 138 the number of people who’ve perished in the desert, in the Rio Grande and parallel irrigation canals, on Mount Cristo Rey and along the border wall in a sector that runs from Hudspeth County, Texas, to El Paso, to the New Mexico-Arizona state line.
The total is just 11 shy of last year’s record 149 migrant deaths in the sector. The Border Patrol continues to push English- and Spanish-language public safety announcements online for migrants to abstain from crossing the border illegally between ports of entry.
The agency instead refers them to the CBP One phone app where they can request online applications for asylum in the United States. The federal government tries to schedule appointments within weeks, though immigration advocates often have criticized the portal as slow.
Border agents also are working with first responders in Southern New Mexico to save migrants from dehydrating in triple-digit heat. The federal agency has so far effected 761 rescues in the El Paso Sector that otherwise could have ended up as fatalities.
Border agents have placed placards so migrants can phone-in their position if they are injured and “rescue” beacons in the middle of the desert so those lost can approach, push a panic button and summon help.
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