{"id":821035,"date":"2026-08-21T13:40:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T13:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/821035\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T13:40:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T13:40:09","slug":"rise-in-migrant-deaths-as-19-bodies-found-along-arizona-border-last-month-us-mexico-border","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/821035\/","title":{"rendered":"Rise in migrant deaths as 19 bodies found along Arizona border last month | US-Mexico border"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to newly released data from the medical examiner\u2019s office in Pima county, Arizona<\/a>, the remains of 19 migrants, including children, were recovered along the Arizona-Mexico border last month.<\/p>\n

The figure accounts for the highest number of monthly deaths in that area since 2024 and brings the number of total remains found to 73 this year, 14 more than the same time period last year.<\/p>\n

Experts and immigration advocates say the new data is a reflection of US policy abroad and at home, including the recent blocking<\/a> of asylum seekers. Despite extreme temperatures caused by global warming<\/a> and the threat of arrest by ICE<\/a>, people are still making the perilous journey through Mexico.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the current administration is talking about closing the border, I think that they\u2019ve been very effective at closing legal ports of entry and making it darn near impossible for people to actually enter the country or, as certain groups in the country like to say, \u2018Come in the right way,\u2019\u201d said Octavio Torres, executive director of the non-profit Humane Borders organization.<\/p>\n

The group helps rescue migrants from dehydration and exposure and works alongside Pima county to track migrant deaths. Their data shows that at least 4,505 migrants have died in the Arizona desert over the last 25 years, an average of roughly one every other day.<\/p>\n

The most frequent causes of death are dehydration and exposure, but people also die from hypothermia or blunt force trauma caused by passing out and hitting their head on a rock.<\/p>\n

Brad Jones, a Humane Borders board member and professor with the Global Migration Center at the University of California, Davis, said the most recent data reveals a high number of \u201ccontemporaneous\u201d deaths compared with recent years. This means the deaths occurred recently rather than representing old remains finally being discovered.<\/p>\n

Jones added that it\u2019s often \u201crandom happenstance\u201d when someone \u2013 a hiker or law enforcement officer, for instance \u2013 comes across human remains. The desert can quickly obscure or destroy evidence, and Jones said remains can \u201cdisappear without a trace pretty quickly\u201d because of scavengers and animals.<\/p>\n

That means the true number of migrant deaths along the southern US border is undoubtedly higher than what\u2019s known.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s estimates that the true number of migrant deaths ranges as high as four times what we\u2019ve seen,\u201d said Jones. \u201cFor every migrant\u2019s remains that you find, how many do you not find?\u201d<\/p>\n

Amelia Frank-Vitale, an anthropology professor at Princeton University, focuses on what compels people to risk death migrating to the US through harsh terrain like a desert or the Dari\u00e9n Gap, the dense jungle that connects Colombia and Panama.<\/p>\n

Oftentimes, she says, the people making these journeys feel like they have no choice at all.<\/p>\n

While researching and writing her book Leave If You Can: Migration and Violence in Bordered Worlds, Frank-Vitale traveled to Honduras and met a woman who was preparing to migrate while pregnant.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is in the full throes of the Trump administration\u2019s real attacks on immigrants,\u201d Frank-Vitale said. \u201cThe actions of ICE are making international news. And still, she thought the best thing for her at this moment is maybe to try and get to the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frank-Vitale argues that the US has never fully addressed the role it\u2019s played in creating instability in other countries whose people are now seeking refuge.<\/p>\n

But even before the Trump administration largely shuttered the asylum process, only a fraction of people from Central America \u2013 or, for that matter, from many parts of the world \u2013 were granted asylum.<\/p>\n

Torres, the executive director of Humane Borders, shares Frank-Vitale\u2019s frustration with US policies that sow chaos then effectively neglect the people affected by that chaos.<\/p>\n

\u201cEver since Operation Gatekeeper in 1994 under the Clinton administration, it\u2019s all been about prevention through deterrence,\u201d Torres said, referring to a border patrol enforcement strategy that made crossing in safer, more obvious places extremely difficult.<\/p>\n

\u201cOut of desperation, people think, \u2018How else can I get in?\u2019\u201d Torres said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what has driven people into the Arizona desert for the last 32 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Trump administration turned the CBP One app<\/a> from a digital appointment-maker to a means of encouraging \u201cself-deportation\u201d, and the administration also revived policies that require many asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while their cases proceed.<\/p>\n

As a result, the number of border \u201cencounters\u201d \u2013 a data point signifying when law enforcement encounters people at or between ports of entry \u2013 have plummeted since the Biden administration. But people are still coming, experts say; the journey is just harder and more lethal.<\/p>\n

Jones, the professor from California, compares the resulting deaths to a plane crash.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuppose that every single July for 26 years straight, a Boeing 737 with between 100 and 250 passengers crashed right in the Arizona desert,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019d be up in arms. You\u2019d be freaking out.\u201d<\/p>\n

One difference, he allows, is that deaths in the desert come in \u201cdribs and drabs\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when you accumulate them,\u201d he said, \u201cwe\u2019re talking large numbers of deaths in any given year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"According to newly released data from the medical examiner\u2019s office in Pima county, Arizona, the remains of 19…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":821036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-821035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=821035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/821036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=821035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=821035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=821035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}