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By Alia Shoaib
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Migrants have been warned of the heightened risks of attempting border crossings at this time of year, after the remains of several dead bodies were found in the desert.
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents found three deceased people near Ajo in southern Arizona on June 26, along with four other surviving migrants.
Arizona and other regions in the U.S. have experienced extremely high temperatures in recent months, particularly in areas of desert.
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The CBP has issued multiple heat advisories for various places over the past few weeks.
"We're reaching what I would consider the most deadly time of year here," Laurie Cantillo, chair of the nonprofit Humane Borders, told ABC15 Arizona.
"All it takes is a sprained ankle or someone to fall behind from their group, be left behind, and it becomes a life-and-death situation."
Humane Borders maintains a system of water stations in the Sonoran Desert on routes used by migrants coming to the United States.
"A person's fate whether they're crossing legally or illegally should be judged by the courts, not by dying a horrible death of dehydration and thirst," Cantillo said.
"The concern is that there might be more deaths over the summer over the next several months and that's why our work is so important."
In a statement on the discovery of dead migrants near Ajo, a CBP agent warned migrants against trusting smugglers who assure them that it is safe to illegally cross the border into the U.S.
"CBP's message for anyone who is thinking of soliciting the services of smuggling organizations to enter the United States illegally along the Southern border is simple: don't do it," Tucson Sector Deputy Chief Patrol Agent Justin De La Torre said in the statement.
"As is evidenced by this case, when migrants cross the border illegally, they put their lives in peril. The terrain along the border is extreme, the relentless summer heat is severe, and remote areas where smugglers bring migrants is unforgiving," he said.
"Far too many people who made the decision to place their lives into the hands of the criminal organizations have died of dehydration, and heat stroke."
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CBP agents also reported finding four dead bodies in the desert in New Mexico, near the U.S.-Mexico border, on July 1.
Newsweek reached out to U.S. CBP via email outside of regular working hours.
CBP Chief Jason Owens said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that the agency had rescued more than 3,700 people and documented more than 300 deaths so far in the fiscal year since October 2023.
"Warning: Summer is upon us. High temperatures & remote ranch lands/desert make already dangerous conditions even more dire," Owens said in the post from early June.
In June, President Joe Biden announced an executive order that bars migrants who cross the Southern border unlawfully between ports of entry from receiving asylum.
Cantillo of Humane Borders said that since then, the organization has seen an uptick in water usage at remote stations.
"Since the executive order, consumption rates seem to be higher, and this is the concern that as more migrants see that there may not be a path to asylum by surrendering at the wall. Unfortunately, the worry is that more of them will make the very dangerous choice of trying to cross on their own," Cantillo said.
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