Arturo Sanchez Jimenez
Newspaper La Jornada
Sunday June 19, 2022, p. 4
The deaths of Mexicans in their attempt to cross the border with the United States without documents almost tripled between 2018 and 2021, going from 272 to the record number of 719, according to reports from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE).
That of 2021 is the highest figure since 2004 – the year in which the Foreign Ministry records begin – not to mention that the Mexican consulates on the border have documented the cases of 294 unidentified people who died while trying to reach the American dream
and who are presumed to be compatriots. If you add those who were identified, the number reaches 913.
Since 2004, 6,480 Mexicans have lost their lives trying to cross the border line. Although the agency does not have disaggregated data by cause of death for the period 2004-2008, from 2009 to 2021, 886 Mexicans died from dehydration, 480 from drowning, 347 from accidents, 71 from health complications, 30 from hypothermia, one from homicide and 2 thousand 628 for other causes
unidentified in the most recent reports that the Foreign Ministry has published on its open data page.
Due to its historical accumulation of deaths of nationals, the area of greatest danger is Arizona, where between 2004 and 2021, 3,340 migrants of Mexican origin died. The Tucson desert is the one that has claimed the most lives, with 2,600 compatriots deceased in 17 years.
The second state with the highest number of deaths of Mexicans who cross the border without documents is Texas, where they add up to 2,434 since 2004, followed by California with 696 and New Mexico with 10.
The SRE documents speak of 374 deaths of Mexicans in 2004, 343 for 2010 and 166 for 2015, the lowest number in almost two decades.
From 2018 onwards, deaths have not stopped growing: they went from 272 in that year to 337 in 2019, 422 in 2020 and 719 in 2021.
Of those killed in 2021, 492 were men and 90 women, while the sex of 48 is unknown. Although the majority were men between 28 and 45 years of age, it is known that 50 boys and eight girls lost their lives, as well as another 86 minors whose gender is unknown.
The US Customs and Border Protection Office has reported that the majority of migrant deaths at the border have been related to heat exposure. The agency recorded 557 deaths on the southwest border during 2021. That’s an increase of 254 from 2020 and 300 from 2019.
There were also 12,854 Border Patrol rescues last year. According to the records of the US authorities, the previous maximum was in 2019, with 5,335 rescues.
