Divers pull 54 migrants from Rio Grande in water rescue at Texas-New Mexico border

Daniel Borunda, El Paso Times
Updated ·2 min read
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Divers from several agencies coordinated a mass water rescue of 54 migrants in a stretch of the Rio Grande flowing between El Paso, Texas, and Sunland Park, New Mexico.

A rescue of more than two dozen people in the river in a single incident was uncommon, especially in the stretch of river dividing Texas and New Mexico.

The mission began about 5 p.m. on Tuesday, July 9, when the Sunland Park Fire Department responded to a call of multiple people in the Rio Grande between Racetrack Drive and McNutt Road at West Paisano Drive, SPFD said in X.

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No major injuries were reported, the Sunland Park and El Paso fire departments said on X.

The incident began when U.S. Border Patrol agents spotted a large group entering the Rio Grande and assistance was summoned from water-rescue crews to safely remove the group from the river, the Border Patrol said in a statement.

Divers from various agencies pulled 54 migrants from the Rio Grande in an uncommon mass water rescue on Tuesday evening, July 9, 2024, in Sunland Park, New Mexico, bordering El Paso, Texas.
Divers from various agencies pulled 54 migrants from the Rio Grande in an uncommon mass water rescue on Tuesday evening, July 9, 2024, in Sunland Park, New Mexico, bordering El Paso, Texas.

"This incident demonstrates how transnational criminal organizations will often force migrants into dangerous situations without any regard for their safety or lives," the Border Patrol said.

The detained migrants were transported to the Santa Teresa Border Patrol station for processing and removal under the Title 8 immigration law, the agency said.

The section of the river is near Mount Cristo Rey, very close to the U.S.-Mexico border where the states of Texas, New Mexico and Chihuahua intersect.

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The rescue was conducted by 30 divers from water-rescue crews from the Sunland Park, El Paso, Horizon City and Montana Vista fire departments, El Paso County Search and Rescue and the Border Patrol Search, Trauma and Rescue, known as BORSTAR team.

Sunland Park is a treacherous crossing point for undocumented migrants.

Three bodies were recovered from that same stretch of the Rio Grande on June 25. The bodies of migrants who died of heat stroke are being found on an almost daily basis in the desert surrounding the city as the Borderland deals with 100-degree heat.

Currently in fiscal year 2024, Border Patrol agents have conducted 743 rescues in its El Paso Sector, which covers the westernmost tip of Texas and all of New Mexico, the agency said.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Divers rescue 54 migrants in Rio Grande at Texas-New Mexico border