SUNLAND PARK, New Mexico (Border Report) – On a day in which temperatures reached 106°, local and federal officials rendered aid to two men in the desert about a mile and a half from the border wall.
“Border Patrol encountered a young male. He stated something along the lines of, ‘my friend needs help,’” said Sunland Park Fire Chief Daniel Medrano.
The man led Border Patrol to a spot near sand dunes not far from New Mexico Highway 273 where a man in his early 20s lay.
Border Patrol agents “initiated CPR and when we arrived on the scene, we continued CPR until we made the determination his (heart) monitor had no vital signs. We were unable to resuscitate him,” Medrano said.
A Border Patrol spokesman was unable to immediately confirm the fatality. “There is a lag in the reporting process for these incidents,” the official said.
Sunland Park Police officers remained on the scene around 5 p.m. Thursday but declined to speak with reporters. In the distance, two Border Patrol agents aboard all-terrain vehicles combed the dunes looking for additional migrants.
The New Mexico town just 5 miles west of downtown El Paso has become a hotbed for unauthorized migration in the past few months.
The Fire Department reports assisting in migrant rescues or providing first-aid to people who hurt their backs or limbs trying to jump over 18-foot stretches of border wall almost on a daily basis.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection this week blamed smuggling organizations for abandoning migrants in “remote and dangerous areas.” That is leading to a huge spike in migrant rescues. CBP says its agents and officers so far this year have performed 7,084 rescues nationwide, a 35 percent increase over all of fiscal year 2020.
