SUNLAND PARK, New Mexico (Border Report) – The man in the orange shirt lay on the side of the mountain, a bloody gash visible through the torn right leg of his jeans. A black helicopter hovered above, descending only far enough to allow several men in military fatigues to rappel down.
The trained U.S. Border Patrol paramedics and emergency medical technicians quickly rendered aid to the presumed injured migrant. They put him on a stretcher and carried him down the mountain to a clearing where a helicopter could take him to the nearest hospital.
The scene played out Tuesday by members of the U.S. Border Patrol Search Trauma and Rescue team (BORSTAR) on Mount Cristo Rey was only a demonstration. But the mountain is real, and so are the dangers it represents to migrants coming across the border from Mexico every year.
That’s why federal authorities are partnering with local officials and Mexican diplomats to discourage people from entering the United States illegally through a stretch of Southern New Mexico some migrant advocacy organizations refer to as a graveyard.
They are running public service announcements online and engaging the Spanish-speaking community as part of the “No Se Arriesgue” (Don’t risk your life) campaign. It coincides with the usual spike in migrant traffic to the region often referred to as the “spring surge” and the rise in temperatures that leads to dehydration, heat stroke and death.
“This site symbolizes the struggle of thousands of migrants who are exploited by transnational criminal organizations and smuggled across this treacherous terrain with complete disregard for their safety,” said El Paso Sector Border Patrol Chief Agent Anthony “Scott” Good. “The migrants are not properly informed about dangers. The steep terrain, the jagged cliffs increase the risk of injury. A simple twist of an ankle can easily turn critical.”
A total of 149 migrants died in Far West Texas and Southern New Mexico in fiscal year 2023 and 34 have died so far since Oct. 1. Ninety percent of the fatalities are taking place in New Mexico, according to the Border Patrol.
Climbing up and down Cristo Rey is strenuous but doing so after being kept starving in an overcrowded stash house in Mexico before the hike is dangerously taxing, Good said.
“Migrant testimonies reveal they were dehydrated before even beginning their trip because ruthless smugglers often deprive them of adequate food and water for days,” he said.
Conditions aren’t much better for them in the U.S. if the smugglers manage to help them avoid capture at the border. Border agents since October have located 136 stash houses in the El Paso Sector and apprehended 1,377 smuggled migrants.
“These stash houses are filled with trash, limited access to running water and no sanitation. They (the migrants) find themselves in vulnerable conditions. Many fall into debt bondage and are forced to conduct criminal activities like becoming (migrant) load drivers and others coerced into sex crimes,” Good said.
The Border Patrol is trying to reduce fatalities not only by urging foreign nationals to follow legal pathways instead of crossing illegally between ports of entry, but also by placing 21 emergency push-button towers (emergency beacons) in the desert, 500 placards with geolocators and instructions to dial 911 when lost, and high-tech cameras that monitor the border wall 24-7.
However, federal officials say smugglers are telling the migrants not to call for help and to avoid the beacons because they will get caught and deported. Some deceased migrants have been found a short distance from the beacons without having tried to activate them.
Others fatally injured themselves climbing the border wall after smugglers help them go up but don’t care how they come down on the other side. The Border Patrol last fiscal year rescued 600 injured or dehydrated migrants and is up to almost 300 this year.
Mexican Consul General Mauricio Ibarra Ponce de Leon said his office is also stressing safety on the border among Spanish-speaking clients.
“We are collaborating on an information and awareness campaign to alert migrants of the dangers they might face trying to cross the border and prevent them from becoming victims of crime,” he said. “It is important they know that crossing the border in an irregular manner exposes them to dangerous situations.”