Volunteers leave water at border for migrants as 90 have died in Arizona desert so far this year

Volunteers in Arizona have been leaving water and other life-saving supplies throughout the desert along the US-Mexico border, where at least 90 have died in the state alone this year.

“We have water, cans of food, hats for the sun,” said Luis Osuna, a volunteer. Luis Osuna, a volunteer with Border Kindness told state local site AZFamily.

“Everything we do out here is to try and prevent one death. Because one death means the world to someone’s family members, to someone’s kids.”

Scores of migrants have died crossing the US-Mexico border this year, even as crossings continue to plunge in recent months in the wake of an executive order from the Biden administration temporarily suspending asylum in times of high entry.

In addition to the at least 90 deaths in the Arizona desert, the remains of 140 people have been found in the El Paso border sector, more than all those found in the region during fiscal year 2023.

Border agents have been filmed destroying water caches left for migrants, seeking to prevent the epidemic of heat-related deaths at the border each year.

The practice, which is ostensibly against Border Patrol rules, has reportedly continued through at least 2023.

Human rights advocates argue that the bipartisan strategy of deterrence — using measures like border walls, asylum crackdowns, and militarized security to dissuade migrants from attempting to cross — often has the effect of pushing desperate border crossers to remote areas of the desert where they can fall victim to dangerous conditions like triple-degree temperatures.

“The number of deaths is shocking, but each death represents a human being, a family, a community,” Ari Sawyer, US border researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in a recent report. “The US government should end deadly border deterrence policies and enact policies that protect human life.” 

As The Independent has reported, the US government has formally adopted a “prevention through deterrence” approach since at least the mid-1990s.

Since then, at least 10,000 have died at the border, according to Human Rights Watch, though the true figure could be as many as eight times higher given the difficulties of accurately studying the issue across the sprawling US-Mexico frontier.

Individual states like Texas, which has installed floating barriers and razor wire along popular border crossings, have pursued similar strategies.

In 2022, the US-Mexico border was the most dangerous land border route in the world, according to the International Organization for Migration.

In recent days, the Harris campaign has put out ads touting Harris’s credentials as a border-state prosecutor and backer of the Biden immigration agenda, including a border security bill.