More migrant bodies have been recovered so far this fiscal year than in any previous recorded year, according to U.S. Custom and Border Protection (CBP) data obtained by the Washington Examiner.
Authorities have recovered 609 bodies at the southern border so far in fiscal year 2022, compared to the 566 migrant deaths in 2021. the Washington Examiner reported. The number of migrants crossing the southern border under the Biden administration have hit record highs for multiple months, with over 3 million encountered since the Delaware Democrat took office, according to CBP statistics. (RELATED: How A Small Border Town Is Dealing With Huge Consequences Of Biden’s Border Policies)
“Unfortunately, there’s gonna be more out there that had not been found,” Terrell County Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland, who has responded to 8 migrant deaths in less than two months, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
BORDER REPORT: The first group of migrants I encountered last week in Yuma, AZ were from China, Peru, Georgia, Venezuela, Cuba, and India
Only a few dozen migrants out of the ~1,500 crossing each day into the Yuma border sector are being returned under Title 42 pic.twitter.com/iqdwAX0QKH
— Jennie Taer (@JennieSTaer) May 31, 2022
“With this heat right now. I’m driving around, and I see a vulture and I cringe, just because the fear is walking up and I’ve got a body. My neighbor already had one [death] on their ranch,” South ranch Brad Whitaker recently told the DCNF.
Republican Texas Rep. Mayra Flores, who represents a border district, told the Washington Examiner that the deaths are “tragic” and a reminder that there must be immigration reform.
“Any needless death at the US-Mexico border is tragic. It is time we fix our broken immigration system — but any reform efforts MUST begin with securing our borders,” Flores told the outlet.
Authorities in San Antonio recently found a tractor-trailer full of dozens of dead migrants who were smuggled into the U.S. across the southern border. The migrants were “hot to the touch” and suffered from heat stroke and heat exhaustion, San Antonio Fire Department Chief Charles Hood said following the discovery.
“Transnational criminal organizations continue to recklessly endanger the lives of individuals they smuggle for their own financial gain with no regard for human life. Smuggling organizations are abandoning migrants in remote and dangerous areas, leading to a rise in the number of rescues but also tragically a rise in the number of deaths as we saw most recently in San Antonio,” a CBP spokesperson told the DCNF.
“The terrain along the border is extreme, the summer heat is severe, and the miles of desert migrants must hike after crossing the border in many areas are unforgiving. Despite these inherent dangers, smugglers continue to lie to migrants claiming the borders are open. The borders are not open, and people should not attempt to make the dangerous journey,” the spokesperson added.
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