The U.S.-Mexico border has become the most dangerous land migration route in the world. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that 686 migrants died or went missing along the southern border in 2022.
That figure represents nearly half of the 1,457 deaths and disappearances of migrants documented in the region during 2022, the deadliest year on record since IOM's Missing Migrants Project (MMP) began keeping record in 2014.
"The data comes from IOM’s MMP annual overview, which underscores the growing death toll and increasing risks that migrants face throughout the region. These figures represent the lowest estimates available as many more deaths are likely to go unrecorded due to lack of data from official sources," IOM said in its report released Tuesday.
Although the data shows that deaths and disappearances at the U.S.-Mexico border decreased by 8% compared to the previous year, the organization explained that the 2022 figure is possibly higher than the available information indicates. That's because official data is missing, including from the border county coroner's offices in Texas and the Mexican search and rescue agency.
In that regard, IOM detailed that almost half (307) of the deaths on the U.S.-Mexico border were linked to dangerous crossings of the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts. In addition, it was known that at least 212 people died in the Sahara Desert in 2022. "But the remote nature of these areas indicates that the data are likely incomplete," IOM said.
The report pointed out that the renowned Darién Gap registered 141 documented deaths of migrants in 2022. "The remote and dangerous nature of this area and the presence of criminal gangs along the route means that this figure may not represent the actual number of lives lost," IOM said.
The organization warned that many of the people they surveyed reported the disappearance of their relatives. "The fact that we know so little about migrants who disappear in the Americas is a grim reality. The impacts on the families left behind to search endlessly for a lost loved one are profound," said Marcelo Pisani, IOM regional director for South America.
The information comes as the number of minors crossing the Darién jungle in Central America is rising dangerously in 2023. According to information from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the figure rose to 25,000 in just the first four months of 2023. This is 800% more compared to the same period in 2022.
Similarly, last week, Voz Media reported that more and more migrant children are moving through Latin America and the Caribbean amid violence and instability. Many of them have the United States as their final destination. According to data published by UNICEF, one in four people on the move in Latin America and the Caribbean is a child, the highest figure in the world.
"At least 29,000 children made the perilous Darien crossing in 2021. An estimated 40,000 children made the crossing in 2022 and more than 60,000 children have crossed the Darien jungle in the first eight months of 2023, half of them below the age of 5, making it the year with the most child crossings on record," UNICEF said.
Meanwhile, the number of refugee and migrant children apprehended at the U.S. southern border also increased. According to UNICEF data, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recorded more than 149,000 children crossing in fiscal year (FY) 2021 and more than 155,000 in FY 2022. In the first seven months of FY 2023, more than 83,000 children entered the country, according to CBP data.
