16-03-2025
El Paso Sector known as 'deadliest single place on the border'
Migrants crossing through the El Paso Sector of the U.S. border, 264 miles along West Texas and New Mexico, often face rough terrain in remote, arid stretches, with myriad dangers.
A growing number have died trying to cross.
The U.S. Border Patrol logged 176 deaths in the area during fiscal year 2024, said Landon Hutchens, a spokesperson for the agency's El Paso and Big Bend sectors. That's up from 71 deaths just two years earlier.
The trip is dangerous enough for Claudio Herrera Baeza, a supervisory Border Patrol agent in the sector, to issue a plea: 'Please don't cross. Don't come over illegally; do it the right way.'
Not only are there natural threats from a harsh desert environment, but there are cartel-tied smugglers exploiting those in search of a better life, he said: 'The reality is that those individuals are falling prey of ruthless criminals.'
Border remains map
The southern Arizona aid group No More Deaths maintains a map of border deaths in the area, combining data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, as well as the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator, the El Paso County Office of the Medical Examiner, two justices of the peace in Texas and a handful of other sources to create what's known as the El Paso Sector Migrant Death Database.
Each red dot on the map represents a migrant's death.
There's one near Albuquerque, one near Alamogordo, one near Truth or Consequences.
They grow more prevalent in New Mexico's southwestern corner, speckling parts of Hidalgo, Grant and Luna counties.
And they morph into a solid line of red along the Rio Grande, from Sunland Park to the eastern outskirts of El Paso.
All told, the El Paso Sector Migrant Death Database includes 599 deaths from 2008 to late 2024, with more than 300 in Doña Ana County. The database logs more than 80 sets of skeletal remains, including dozens in Doña Ana, Luna and Hidalgo counties.
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents and a National Guard soldier park on the United States side of the Rio Grande as Ciudad Juárez residents cool off in the river last month.
The map represents 'thousands of hours of work,' said Bryce Peterson, a volunteer with No More Deaths and one of the map's primary data gatherers.
It's updated regularly. Though the database contains migrant deaths from more than a decade ago, its most recent additions come from late 2024.
When compared to data from other sections of the U.S.-Mexico border, the El Paso database reveals a worrisome pattern, Peterson said: The area is 'the deadliest single place on the border.'
'It's this very small area that's essentially just the suburbs of El Paso where just unbelievable amounts of people are dying,' he said.
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A Mexican police helicopter patrols the border wall along the border near Ciudad Juárez and Sunland Park in January.
Most of the deaths — nearly half — are the result of environmental exposure, according to the data. Nearly 100 stemmed from water-related incidents, while more than two dozen more were the result of falls from border barriers.
A little over half of the deaths were among young adults, people ages 18 to 35. Overall, men outnumber women 3-to-2, though the numbers are close to even in Doña Ana County, where search groups have discovered an increasing number of migrant remains in the desert near Santa Teresa.
Peterson attributed the area's high death count to desperation, a high number of migrants — especially women and people from countries other than Mexico — who planned to apply for legal asylum but had to change course.
'It seems like a place where people get sick of waiting,' he said.
