The chief of the U.S. Border Patrol is urging caution to migrants attempting to illegally cross the southern border into the U.S. as extreme heat in the region has caused dozens of deaths.
“Extreme heat continues to impact the southwest border," Chief Jason Owens tweeted on June 29. "So far this year, our agents have already made 5,091 heat-related rescues while tragically discovering another 103 migrants deceased due to heat exposure. Do not risk your life illegally crossing the border.”
A heat wave in the South Texas border region contributed to the deaths of nine people within eight days in Webb County, Texas, the Border Report said June 27. The deaths came under a “heat dome” that lasted for weeks at the South Texas border and northern Mexico, the Border Report said.
A persistent region of high pressure trapping heat over an area causes a heat dome, which can create “stagnant, hot air that can feel like an oven,” Scientific American said.
“These high temperatures are higher than what we normally see,” Webb County Medical Examiner Dr. Corinne Stern told Border Report. “With heat indexes rising to 118 degrees and 120 degrees, extra precautions need to be taken.”
Fifty-five migrants have died since Oct. 1, 2022, in El Paso and southern New Mexico, an updated June 28 Border Report said.
The deceased included those who died of heat-related illnesses after getting lost in the desert.
“We want the migrants to be aware of what is going on and not become another statistic,” Fidel Baca, a Border Patrol spokesman in El Paso, told the Border Report. “We don’t want them to attempt to enter the U.S. illegally by putting their lives at risk, particularly in this extreme heat. We have already rescued 220 people and located 55 dead.”
An Oct. 28, 2022, CBS News report said fiscal year 2022 was the “deadliest year for migrants recorded by the U.S. government,” in that “at least 853 migrants died trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border unlawfully.”
June 27 was the anniversary of the June 27, 2022, deadly human smuggling tragedy that resulted in 53 migrants' deaths. The dead, who included eight children, were in a tractor-trailer in the scorching Texas summer, ABC News reported.
When the trailer arrived in San Antonio from the border city of Laredo, 48 were dead and five more died at a hospital.
“It was the deadliest tragedy to claim the lives of migrants smuggled across the border from Mexico,” ABC News reported. “The dead included 27 people from Mexico, 14 from Honduras, seven from Guatemala and two from El Salvador.”
Americans are not happy with the government’s handling of the U.S.-Mexico border, a June 21 Pew Research Center report said.
“Just 23% of Americans say the government is doing a good job dealing with the large number of people seeking asylum at the border, while more than three times as many (73%) say it’s doing a bad job,” the report said.
