On September 25, 2024, Border Patrol Agents (BPAs) from the Deming Station responded to a sensor activation and discovered a group of individuals illegally present in the United States. The location was approximately 0.85 miles north of New Mexico State Highway 9 and about 10.6 miles west of the Columbus Port of Entry in Columbus, NM. The group informed agents that another man was experiencing medical distress nearby.
The agents found the man face down near a bush at around 2:10 p.m. He expressed his inability to stand and requested water. The BPAs immediately called for emergency medical services (EMS) and a BPA emergency medical technician to assist while they attempted to cool him with water.
The Village of Columbus Fire and EMS Department arrived at approximately 2:45 p.m., followed by a BPA paramedic at around 2:52 p.m. They continued efforts to cool the man and established an intravenous line for fluid administration. As they transported him towards a landing zone for airlift to a medical center, he went into cardiac arrest. CPR was initiated, and they rerouted to Mimbres Memorial Hospital in Deming, NM, where additional medicine was administered intravenously.
Upon arrival at the hospital at approximately 3:43 p.m., doctors took over his care but declared him deceased four minutes later after all lifesaving efforts ceased.
An autopsy conducted by the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator on September 26 identified the deceased as a 34-year-old male of unknown nationality. The cause of death was determined to be hyperthermia, classified as accidental.
The CBP Office of Professional Responsibility is reviewing this incident, with notification made to the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General.
"U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is America's frontline: the nation's largest law enforcement organization and the world's first unified border management agency," states CBP's mission description.
