Bodies of migrants found near US-Mexico border amid heat wave in El Paso region
New Mexico authorities continue finding the bodies of possible migrants near the U.S.-Mexico border in the desert outside of Sunland Park as the El Paso-Juárez Borderland remains in the grasp of "dangerously hot" weather.
The El Paso-Las Cruces region, southern New Mexico and far West Texas are under an excessive heat watch until Friday, June 14. The watch is for "dangerously hot conditions" with possible temperatures of 105 to 110, the National Weather Service Office stated.
An excessive heat watch is usually a precursor to an excessive heat warning. The watch is issued several days in advance, Jason Laney, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said.
A body was found Monday afternoon, June 10 — making it the eighth death in just over a week since May 31 in the desert surrounding Sunland Park and Santa Teresa as lines of 100-degree days loom in the forecast for the rest of June.
The Sunland Park Fire Department reported on X that its off-road rescue crew assisted the Doña Ana Sheriff's Office and New Mexico's Office of the Medical Investigator with Monday's body recovery in the desert off Highway 9 and the Pete Domenici Highway outside Santa Teresa.
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Just before midnight on Saturday, June 8, another body had been found in the desert near Gila and Carrizo drives in Sunland Park, SPFD reported.
On the evening of June 5, the U.S. Border Patrol found two other bodies in the desert off McNutt Road, the Sunland Park Fire Department, which assisted with the recovery, stated on X. Four bodies were found the prior weekend.
The deaths are under investigation by law enforcement in New Mexico. Names, countries of origin and causes of death have not been disclosed.
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The desert outside of Sunland Park and Santa Teresa — just west of El Paso — is a potentially dangerous smuggling zone for undocumented migrants who can become debilitated by the heat while hiking over rough terrain after climbing over the 30-foot-tall border fence.
Many of the previous migrant deaths in the Borderland have been due to dehydration and heat stroke. In some cases, migrants were believed to have gotten heat illness, disoriented and lost in the desert just a few hundred yards from residences.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: More dead migrants found in border desert in Sunland Park, New Mexico
