Border patrol agents patrolling the Yuma Sector in Arizona found two dead migrants in separate locations, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) announced Thursday.
The first deceased migrant was found Monday morning just miles away from a rescue beacon, CBP said in a statement. An agent tracking a group of migrants discovered the body, later identified as a 40-year-old Mexican national. The individual is believed to have been dead for two weeks, CBP said.
Yuma Sector agents received a separate call Tuesday afternoon about a group of migrants just south of the border that needed assistance. One of the callers said a female member had collapsed and died, according to CBP. Agents turned the 20-year-old Guatemalan migrant over to the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office coroner and apprehended the other migrants, one of whom was a 16-year-old from Mexico.
YUMA, AZ – MAY 12: A border patrol truck drives by the wall at the US-Mexico border on May 12, 2021 in Yuma, Arizona. (Apu Gomes/Getty Images)
“It doesn’t take much,” said Border Patrol agent Lenin Padilla who is assigned to the Yuma Sector Foreign Operations Branch. “Proof of that is the woman. She was only a couple miles north of the border. It’s hot out there.”
Padilla said Border Patrol is working with the Mexican government and other non-governmental agencies to warn migrants about crossing the border in the hot desert sun. (RELATED: Trump: Biden ‘Doesn’t Want America To Be A Nation At All,’ Will ‘Eliminate’ US Border)
“The most important thing is prevention,” Padilla said, according to CBP. “We are trying to prevent people from crossing the desert, especially in the summer months.”
Two other migrants remain unaccounted for, Padilla said, noting their families reported them missing after the individuals planned to cross the desert into the U.S..
Padilla said he expects the number of emergency calls to rise during the summer months due to the heat.
Arizona border deaths hit an all time high in 2020, with most of the deaths due to the intense heat, ABC 15 reported.