Yuma border patrol works with Mexican officials to combat migrant deaths

YUMA (AZFamily) — Every year, hundreds of migrants die in the desert crossing into the states. Now, border patrols are working with their counterparts in Mexico and Guatemala to warn people of the dangers of coming here illegally.

So far this year, Yuma border patrol has tracked half a dozen deaths in the desert. Yuma Border Patrol Chief Sean McGoffin said it’s a decrease from the previous years.

“We had 52 deaths, I believe in 2022, here in the Yuma sector and now we are down to six this year so far,” McGoffin said.

The Pima County Medical Examiner keeps records of undocumented border crossing deaths in Arizona. So far this fiscal year, they’ve counted 68 undocumented border-crossing deaths.

McGoffin said numbers in the Yuma sector are down because they’re seeing fewer migrants in the area.

They estimate a 70% decrease in encounters from last year and are refocusing much of their efforts on helping neighboring sectors process a surge in migrants.

“We continue to help the Tucson sector and we are also helping the San Diego sector in processing individuals from those locations,” McGoffin said.

He said about 50% of the migrants they’re processing are from outside the Yuma sector.

David Perez Tejada is with Mexico’s National Institute of Immigration, INAMI, in Baja California. He said right now they’re seeing a surge in the San Diego area.

Perez Tejada said there are about 1,000 undocumented people crossing daily from over 140 nationalities. INAMI works closely with border patrol counterparts in the states on search and rescue operations in remote areas along the southern border.

“We have several accidents between Baja California and California as well as Arizona. We just had an accident two days ago along the San Diego border, two Ecuadorians and one Columbian. They were severely injured, but there’s people that die in the attempt to cross into the United States,” Perez Tejada said.

To try and prevent deaths, INAMI is working with border patrol and other local officials to educate migrants on the dangers of crossing into the states through remote areas.

The Guatemalan Consulate in Tucson is also joining the efforts. He said human smugglers lie and will do anything to exploit families for profit, and that can turn deadly.

Yuma Border Patrol chief Sean McGoffin said the agency’s “missing migrant initiative,” which started in 2022, is saving lives.

They set up signs along the border and emergency call towers with GPS coordinates and emergency numbers.

“We have over 120 signs from Yuma to Wellton and two beacons that can be moved according to migration patterns.” McGoffin said.

“For us we’ve been able to get a lot more equipment on the field. we’ve increased our EMT’s that are available to go out in the field, we have BORSTAR who is highly trained to respond to anyone who needs help,” McGoffin said.

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.

Copyright 2024 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.