Migrant deaths on the rise on the US-Mexico border: Analysis of Missing Migrants Project data January – July 2017

Despite the fact that fewer migrants seem to be crossing into the United States in 2017, more people are dying on this route. The US Border Patrol has apprehended 140,024 migrants between January and June 2017, about half the number (267,746) recorded in the first six months of 2016. Despite this large decrease in apprehensions, the number of migrant fatalities recorded in 2017 are higher than in the same period of 2016. 239 migrant fatalities have been recorded in 2017, an increase of 17 per cent compared with the 204 recorded between 1 January and 31 July 2016.