Once a month, Abbey Carpenter, a retiree, leads volunteers through the dunes near the US-Mexico border in southern New Mexico, searching for the remains of migrants. In under two years, she and her team have identified 27 sites. Each discovery—bones like femurs, ribs, and jaws—hits her hard, reminding her of the people behind the remains. As a former ESL teacher, Carpenter sees echoes of her former students, migrants who came through her classroom and later worked in construction and service jobs across the United States. When she first began these searches, she recalls feeling as though she was walking in their footsteps, spotting backpacks, shoes, and clothing left behind.
Migration Trends and Border Policies
Illegal border crossings have dropped sharply in recent months, largely due to stricter enforcement measures introduced during President Donald Trump’s administration. The decline offers a glimmer of hope that the horrific death toll in the Border Patrol’s El Paso Sector may ease, especially with the punishing summer heat approaching. Last year, 176 migrant bodies were found in this 264-mile stretch from West Texas to New Mexico—a significant increase from 149 the year before and an alarming jump from just 20 deaths in 2019.
Data Transparency and Border Deaths
The El Paso Sector has become a critical focus point not only because of the rising death toll but also due to Border Patrol’s public sharing of these figures during a time when broader data from the Biden administration was withheld despite congressional demands. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has not provided death statistics for fiscal years 2023 and 2024. Overall, migrant deaths along the US-Mexico border increased steadily over five years, with numbers jumping from 281 to 895 by fiscal 2022, according to CBP. These figures include remains found by federal, state, local, and tribal agencies.
Missing Migrant Program
In response to the rising number of migrant deaths, the CBP launched the Missing Migrant Program in 2017 under the Trump administration. This initiative aims to rescue migrants in distress and reduce deaths along the Southwest border. It also helps identify and return remains to families. The program has since been renamed the Missing Alien Program under the current Trump administration.
Geography and Risks in Doña Ana County
Most remains in the El Paso Sector are found in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, an area alarmingly close to roads, factories, and neighborhoods where help could be accessible. The desert terrain looks flat from the border fence, with the Franklin Mountains visible in the distance and Highway 9 running roughly three miles north. However, just minutes into the desert, shifting creosote bushes and mesquite create sand mounds that can block visibility entirely. Migrants seeking refuge in the sparse shade face sand temperatures soaring to 150 degrees in summer, worsening their plight.
Survivor Accounts and Border Patrol Insights
Border Patrol Agent Claudio Herrera notes the tragedy of bodies found near the border. Many migrants told officers they had spent weeks in stash houses without adequate food or water, arriving at the border already dehydrated and weakened. This combination of harsh desert conditions and prolonged hardship often proves deadly.
Medical Investigation and Identification Efforts
New Mexico’s Office of the Medical Investigator investigates unattended deaths in the region, including those near the border. Starting in 2023, they formally began tracking remains identified as probable migrants. Last year, they positively identified 112 individuals, about 75% of the remains recovered in southern New Mexico.
Volunteer Search Operations
Abbey Carpenter and Marine veteran James Holeman coordinate desert searches through Battalion Search and Rescue, a nonprofit group. On a typical May Saturday, volunteers gather equipped with bright hats, radios, and GPS apps to map their search routes safely. Holeman describes the search area as a “straight-up open graveyard,” a 10-by-20-mile stretch they have been methodically covering since late 2023.
Mary Mackay, a local teacher volunteering for the first time, was overwhelmed by the emotional weight of the experience. She said seeing a body made the tragedy real—it wasn’t just a statistic but a person with a story, family, and dreams cut short in the harsh desert.
Search Protocols and Challenges
Volunteer teams like Battalion Search and Rescue operate in areas often overlooked by Border Patrol or local law enforcement. They do not handle bones directly but mark sites with bright tape and record precise locations to notify authorities for collection. Unfortunately, officials sometimes fail to retrieve remains promptly, and environmental factors like wind or animals can scatter bones before recovery.
Carpenter emphasizes the importance of thorough searches around each site. Every bone fragment matters in the identification process, offering families a chance to recover their missing loved ones’ remains. She said, “Which family wouldn’t want all of their loved one’s remains found?”
