The border between Mexico and USA is the deadliest land migratory route in the world, according to figures published Tuesday by the agency. UN that addresses the migratory phenomenon, with hundreds of people losing their lives trying to dangerously cross the desert.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) documented 686 migrant deaths and disappearances at the border last year, but the true count is likely higher due to a lack of data, including from coroner’s offices in border counties in Texas and the Mexican search and rescue agency.
In a landscape of vast deserts, canyons and hills full of cacti, migrants are victims of heat stroke in summer and hypothermia in winter, according to US border authorities. Some bodies are never found.
IOM spokesman Paul Dillon said the numbers recorded “represent the lowest estimates available.” “The alarming figures are a stark reminder of the need for decisive action to create regular legal migration pathways”he told reporters in Geneva.
The IOM indicated that almost half of the deaths reported in 2022 were related to the route through the Sonora and Chihuahua deserts. The number of deaths and disappearances documented by the IOM along the border represents almost half of the 1,457 cases recorded throughout the Americas last year.
“One of the most worrying trends that the IOM has observed in the Americas was the increase in deaths on the Caribbean migratory routes,” Dillon detailed.
He explained that 350 deaths had been documented in 2022, compared to 245 in 2021 and fewer than 170 recorded in previous years. The majority of victims on the Caribbean migratory routes were people from the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba.
At the Darien Gap, a jungle border crossing between Panama and Colombia, 141 migrant deaths were documented last year, according to the IOM. “The remote and dangerous nature of this area and the presence of criminal gangs along the route means that this figure probably does not represent the true number of lives lost.”Dillon added.
Last week, Panama announced new measures to stop the increase in migrant crossings through the Darién Gap, which this year reached an all-time high.
Source: Reuters
Source: Gestion
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