The remains of 19 migrants were found over the course of a month along the Arizona-Mexico border
Last month, the remains of 19 migrants, including children, were found along the border between the U.S. state of Arizona and Mexico. This is the highest monthly number of migrant deaths in the area since 2024, The Guardian reports, citing new data from the Pima County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Since the beginning of the year, the remains of 73 migrants have been found in Pima County—14 more than during the same period last year. The nonprofit organization Humane Borders, which assists migrants suffering from dehydration and exposure and tracks deaths in collaboration with Pima County, has reported at least 4,505 deaths in the Arizona desert over the past 25 years.
Dehydration and exposure to environmental conditions are cited as the most common causes of death. According to the organization, people also die from hypothermia or blunt force trauma, which they may sustain after losing consciousness and hitting their heads on rocks.
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Brad Jones, a board member of Humane Borders and a professor at the Center for Global Migration at the University of California, Davis, noted that the latest data indicate a significant number of recent deaths, rather than just the discovery of long-buried remains. According to him, the actual number of deaths at the U.S. southern border likely exceeds the recorded figure, as remains can quickly disappear due to wildlife and natural conditions, and their discovery is often accidental.
Experts and human rights activists interviewed by the publication attribute the route’s danger to restrictions on access to legal entry points and the U.S. asylum process. Octavio Fuentes, executive director of Humane Borders, believes that obstacles at legal border crossings are driving people to choose dangerous routes through the Arizona desert. The Donald Trump administration has changed the purpose of the CBP One app and reinstated a policy under which many asylum seekers must remain in Mexico while their cases are being processed.
