With record heat and an open invitation from the White House, illegal alien migrants attempting to cross into the United States through the desert south of Arizona continue to die in higher-than-usual numbers.
“A 45-year-old man died Sunday morning after a group of migrants got lost through the Southern Arizona desert,” KPNX reported.
Authorities received a distress call from an 18-year-old migrant woman, leading U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to a remote location 14 miles south of Yuma. From there, CBP and the girl searched for the three other people with whom she was traveling.
That search turned up the dead man, along with two other dehydrated adults, who were taken to a hospital.
“One of them, a 34-year-old Mexican citizen, is facing criminal charges for allegedly guiding the others across the U.S.-Mexico border,” KPNX said.
As reported by The Arizona Sun Times, 43 sets of human remains were found in the Arizona desert in the month of June alone.
A group called Humane Borders has been tracking migrant deaths in the desert for several years. The mapping coordinator for the group, Mike Kreyche, said that “the 127 sets of remains found during the first half of this year are far higher than the 96 bodies recovered during the same period last year.”
It’s also more than the 123 sets of human remains found during 2017.
CBP has been warning migrants not to attempt to cross into the United States through the desert, which is a particularly treacherous trek.
“The desert is vast and treacherous. When you cross illegally, you put yourself in incredible peril,” Yuma Sector Chief Patrol Agent Chris T. Clem said earlier this summer. “And our hot season is just beginning.”
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Pete D’Abrosca is a contributor at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
