At least 853 migrants died in the last 53 months while trying to cross the border between The undocumented United States and Mexico, making 2022 the deadliest year in history, warned civil organizations on Friday based on US Border Patrol data.
This number exceeds the 546 deaths recorded in the fiscal year of 2021, and only considers migrants identified or processed in US territory, or that is, it does not report those who died on the Mexican border.
Official information indicates that many of the migrants drowned in the Rio Bravo, the natural border between the two countries, while others died due to high temperatures. in the desert. In addition, some died when climbing and falling from the walls erected on the border.
“Alarming” situation at the border
José María García Lara, director of the Youth Movement 2000 in Tijuana, told EFE Agency that this situation is “very regrettable” because as US security rules increase in border areas these numbers are generated.
“It is alarming because there is also the figure of those who do not even appear. There are many disappeared, many people who practically stay on the hill, in the desert or in the sea itself after not being recovered, a number that I think is still greater”, he warned.
For the activist, the fact of implementing more rules and laws that restrict the arrival of migrants is counterproductive because it leads to this type of “fatal results, since it is necessary to foresee reasons for the which migrants are leaving their places of origin”.
“Mechanisms must be created to support these communities so that they can enter air in a regulated way, as the first step that has already been taken with work visas for Mexico and other countries. It is expected that next year this will increase in order to avoid these risks for the entire migrant community”, he stressed.
Policies lead to dangerous routes
In an interview with Agência EFE, Paulina Olvera Cáñez, director of Espaço Migrante, condemned the migration policies implemented by the United States and the Mexican government.
In particular, she denounced the fact that militarization and persecution “force people in transit to risk more dangerous routes, and this causes more deaths”.
“Since 853, when The United States implemented the policy of prevention through deterrence, building the wall, making people cross the desert, there have been thousands of deaths, a situation that worsened when Donald Trump made the walls higher,” he declared.
The activist added that the Mexican government also has a responsibility to point out that “people cannot move freely, even if they have a document, they cannot travel by bus, cannot move freely and have to resort to coyotes (people traffickers)”.
As an example of the “dangerous” political consequences, he cited the death of 53 migrants who were part of a caravan in the city of San Antonio, Texas, in June.
“But that was because they could not move freely. Many are also losing their lives in Mexico because they travel in cargo trucks that are not suitable for people, but it is because there is no free traffic and this leads to more deaths”, he denounced.
Biden surpasses migratory records
The region is experiencing a record migratory flow to the United States, where the Customs and Border Protection agency detained 2,12 million undocumented immigrants in fiscal year of 2022.
During Joe Biden’s tenure, from January of 2022 to September 2022, more than 3,89 million migrants were detained at the border, surpassing the administrations of Donald Trump and Barack Obama compared to the same period, according to figures from the consulting firm TResearch International.
