Arizona Migrant Deaths Could Hit ‘Unprecedented’ Highs

A chief Arizona Border Patrol agent is warning that sweltering temperatures in the Southwest could lead to an “unprecedented” number of deaths in the weeks and months ahead.

Arizona, like Texas and California, continues to combat an influx of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. There were 576,901 attempted migrant crossings in Arizona in fiscal year 2023, with current levels (348,013 encounters as of February) on pace to exceed that number by the end of the fiscal year in October, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data.

Last month, amid fears of the state being unable on its own to subsidize and house more than 130,000 legally processed asylum seekers released by the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector into Cochise, Santa Cruz and Pima counties since September 1, 2023, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs requested the Senate and House Appropriations committees to provide $752 million toward paying for migrant services and shelters.

“If nothing changes with the level of migration and we get the 118- to 120-degree days down there, we’re likely going to see unprecedented amounts of death in the desert,” John Modlin, chief patrol agent of the U.S. Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector, said Tuesday, according to NewsNation’s Ali Bradley. “At some point, something has to give.”

Newsweek reached out to the Tucson Sector via email and phone for comment.

The Tucson Sector covers most of the state, extending from the New Mexico state line to the line of Yuma County. Covering some 262 border miles, it’s one of the busiest national sectors in terms of illegal migrant apprehensions and marijuana seizures. Modlin has roughly 3,700 agents working at nine stations.

Last week, according to Modlin, the sector made 6,600 apprehensions, intervened in 14 human smuggling cases and facilitated 179 federal criminal cases.

“The sheer volume of people crossing here magnifies these risks; it puts every life at more peril than ever before,” Modlin added. “From every single adult trying to evade our agents, to infants being carried by their families into this unforgiving environment of sun, heat and other desert extremes.”

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