Donate to our end-of-year fundraising campaign!
Want to receive email updates? Join our mailing list here
Winter 2024 Newsletter
Newly Released – El Paso Sector Migrant Death Map and Database
On March 18, No More Deaths released a searchable map, database, and report documenting the upsurge in migrant deaths in the New Mexico and the far West Texas borderlands. The “El Paso Sector Migrant Death Database” provides the most comprehensive account to date of the past 15 years of migrant deaths along the US/Mexico border in CBP’s El Paso Sector, which includes all of New Mexico, as well as El Paso and Hudspeth counties in Texas.
The El Paso Sector Migrant Death Database comprises a downloadable database and map, similar to the OpenGIS Initiative for Deceased Migrants published by Humane Borders for the state of Arizona, along with a report briefly analyzing this data. We found that:
- CBP is undercounting migrant deaths in the El Paso Sector: From 2012 to 2022, our database shows a higher number of deaths than CBP’s data for the sector, with some years showing as much as two, three, or even four times (in 2020) as many deaths.
- 15% of all migrant deaths were caused by use of force, wall falls, Border Patrol chases, or were deaths that occurred in custody. CBP’s records report only a fraction of these CBP-related deaths. In some cases, field investigators stated that they were obstructed from performing a proper investigation or from interviewing BP agents involved in a death.
- Along with a sharp increase in overall deaths in BP’s El Paso Sector, women now account for more deaths than men, a statistic unprecedented anywhere else along the border, for any year. One explanation for this is the increasing inability of people to seek asylum at official ports of entry, which forces people not prepared for a desert journey into more remote areas.
- Remains are increasingly recovered closer to populated areas. While the US border policy of Prevention Through Deterrence initially drew inspiration from the “success” of El Paso’s Operation Hold The Line in pushing migrants away from urban areas, our data show that, due to increased border militarization, an urban area can be essentially as dangerous and deadly as the middle of nowhere.
Demands and recommendations
CBP and the agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) have time and again proven themselves dishonest in their accounting of migrant deaths and of CBP-related deaths. In this report, we reveal one small piece of what is missing from their data. But data and transparency will never bring back the lives lost, or stop the ongoing crisis of death and disappearance that is a direct result of US border policy. The only way to prevent the death and suffering that have become so commonplace in the US-Mexico borderlands is to end the policy of Prevention Through Deterrence, abolish the US Border Patrol, and dismantle the border barriers that have divided so many communities. At a minimum, we demand the following:
- While CBP should make good on its obligation to the GAO to provide complete data on migrant deaths and take transparency seriously, their accounting will never be trustworthy. Entities independent of border enforcement agencies must provide oversight, data collection, and accountability, working with state and county medical examiners, justices of the peace, law enforcement, and other organizations to make their data reflect the best information available.
- CBP and the OPR must apply CBP-related death designations consistently and transparently, and allow outside oversight of this process.
- Restrictions on asylum, like Texas’ Senate Bill 4, or those proposed by the White House and US senators for 2024, will cause death, injury, and suffering on the US-Mexico border, as people escaping violence, poverty, and climate change are forced to find alternative ways to enter the United States. In accordance with US and international law, CBP must open ports of entry to asylum seekers and remove all restrictions on access to the asylum process, including illegal policies of turnbacks and metering.
- End the practices of vehicle and foot chases which have made CBP the deadliest federal law enforcement agency in the nation.
- The border wall is a humanitarian disaster. Our data show the number of deaths caused by the wall are far higher than CBP reports. Walls have not reduced migration, but serve only to cause untold suffering; they must all be taken down.
Border Patrol Leaves Hundreds of Asylum Seekers Stranded in the Cold, Detains and Threatens Aid Workers Attempting to Respond
Approximately 400 asylum seekers waited along the border wall near Sasabe, Arizona yesterday, in hopes of being picked up by Border Patrol.
Border Patrol never came. During the night, snow and freezing temperatures set in. By this morning, a few inches of snow had accumulated and humanitarian aid volunteers found hundreds of people still stranded along the wall with no sign of a Border Patrol response.
Volunteers with No More Deaths, Tucson Samaritans, and Green Valley Samaritans began evacuating people to the Border Patrol Station in Sasabe. Many volunteers were detained and threatened with arrest by Border Patrol agents who said that they were informed of the situation but did not plan to drive out to address it. As the snow melted and road conditions turned muddy, volunteer vehicles continued to evacuate people despite threats of arrest in anticipation of more dangerously cold conditions tonight.
Now, Border Patrol is refusing to allow more people into the station to be processed. At the time of writing, there are over 250 adults and children left exposed to the elements outside of the Sasabe station. Despite persisting for over three months, Border Patrol has failed to adequately allocate resources to address this ongoing crisis.
People cannot be left out in such life-threatening conditions. A response must be enacted now to establish adequate shelters, warming centers, and other basic necessities for those who seek safety and asylum in Sasabe.
URGENT: Emergency Humanitarian Relief at the Border
Donate today to help sustain our humanitarian aid efforts at the border
There is a humanitarian crisis ongoing at the border as we are seeing drastically increased numbers of asylum seekers crossing in remote mountain areas. Customs and Border Protection has not been adequately responding, at times even threatening humanitarian aid volunteers with arrest while leaving hundreds stranded in deadly, hypothermic conditions. No More Deaths / No Más Muertes, fellow humanitarian aid groups, community groups, and individuals have stepped up to help care for them, but the situation is continuing to escalate. The Tucson Sentinel wrote an article that illuminates the suffering and dire need, please check it out here.
Thus far we have re-allocated funds to manage this support, but those funds are running low and our work is far from over. We are asking our community to help us by making a donation today so we can continue to provide blankets, clothing, food, shoes, and other humanitarian aid. Our volunteers are working tirelessly to get these supplies directly to the people in danger of hypothermia and exposure due to the winter weather.
We appreciate our community for continuing to support our humanitarian aid efforts. Without you, it would not be possible to make a significant impact on the crisis. Please email us at fundraising@nomoredeaths.org with any questions.
Winter 2023 Newsletter
Want to receive email updates? Join our mailing list here
Border Patrol Neglects Asylum Seekers in Winter Storm, Threatens Aid Workers with Arrest
SASABE, Arizona – Last night, humanitarian aid workers scrambled to triage and support 300 asylum seekers stranded along the border wall east of Sasabe, Arizona. A winter storm blew in, dumping rain upon the hundreds of men, women, children, and babies left without adequate shelter in the remote location. Recognizing the urgency of the situation, volunteers notified Border Patrol that they would be driving asylum seekers to the Sasabe substation to be processed, to get them out of the life-threatening cold.
Volunteers were told that this was illegal. Meanwhile, Border Patrol agents refused to send personnel to the area, citing road conditions and limited space in vehicles as the reason for their lack of response. They advised volunteers to call 911 if there was a medical emergency.
The message from Border Patrol was loud and clear: you’re on your own.
Despite the constraints of providing humanitarian aid in a place where cell phone service is limited and the nearest ambulance is two hours away, humanitarian aid volunteers did place multiple calls to 911. Through the rainy day and the frigid night, no emergency services arrived. “Without us volunteers everybody would have died. Everybody would have died,” one volunteer responding to the situation said. “With no tarps, no rain gear, no food, and no water, 300 adults, elders, and children could have died from exposure. We were a group of 8-15 volunteers triaging 300 people, trying to prevent hundreds of deaths. We cannot keep this up. We are not meant for this. We need bigger resources and responses.”
There are still hundreds of people stranded along the wall, waiting to be picked up by Border Patrol.
NEW REPORT: “Separate and Deadly” Reveals Discriminatory 911 Call System in US/Mexico Borderlands
TUCSON, Arizona – On November 14th, No More Deaths released Separate and Deadly: Segregation of 911 Emergency Services in the Arizona Borderlands. The report is the latest installment of Disappeared, a four-part series that examines Border Patrol’s role in the crisis of mass death and disappearance in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands.
Separate and Deadly analyzes the Pima County Sheriff’s Department’s emergency response system and the segregation of 911 calls in the border region. The findings of the report shed light on a discriminatory system in which vastly different responses are allocated to callers based on their perceived citizenship status. For people migrating through the region, their distress calls to 911 are customarily transferred to Border Patrol – an agency that has already demonstrated a deadly negligence when it comes to emergency response and rescue.
From the report:
“In March 2018, a man contacted 911 eleven times over the course of ten hours. He was lost and alone. As the hours passed, his condition clearly deteriorated, and his voice began to fade. It appeared that Border Patrol was not actively searching for him… Pima County dispatchers continued to transfer his call to Border Patrol every time he called… The county’s own Search and Rescue team was never notified, and the county never activated a search for him. Eventually the man stopped calling. The outcome of his case is unknown.”
The No More Deaths team reviewed thousands of 911 calls and took testimony from humanitarian aid volunteers, in addition to other relevant data sources. In 99% of the calls where the caller was presumed to be undocumented, no intake or assessment was conducted, in 68% of the calls the dispatcher lacked fluency in Spanish to be able to communicate effectively and 50% of the callers were given no notice before being transferred to Border Patrol.
“Not only is call segregation based on presumed immigration status unlawful, the consequences of such practices are deadly,” says Parker Deighan, one of the report’s contributors. “The findings of this report raise serious questions about the county’s complicity in the ongoing crisis of death and disappearance.”
In 2023 alone, the remains of 175 people have been found in Arizona. Countless more remain disappeared.
Open Positions
We do not currently have any open staff positions. Please check again at a later time!
HOMAN AND NOEM WILL DRIVE BORDER AGENDA: TED CRUZ
Billal Rahman, Newsweek, 13 November 2024
Texas Senator Ted Cruz said former ICE Director Tom Homan, recently nominated as President-elect Donald Trump’s “border czar,” will be the key figure in “driving” immigration policy at the southern border, rather than incoming Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. With Stephen Miller, who was appointed Deputy Chief of Policy, Trump has appointed a trio of hardliners to key posts that will play a frontline role in shaping immigration policy, making them crucial to his administration’s potential success or failure.
Immigration was key to Trump’s winning campaign against Vice President Kamala Harris and was instrumental in fueling his comeback victory last week. Cruz said he is “very happy” with the appointments and praised Homan and Noem on the latest episode of his podcast, Verdict. “Tom Homan cares passionately about defending the nation and securing our borders, the senator said.
“Homan and Noem will work hand in hand. They will be very effective. [Homan] understands the border and what it takes to secure the border. I think he will be the point person driving the agenda. We are going to secure the border; it won’t take a year; it won’t take six months. It will be done by January and February next year.”
Newsweek reached out to Tom Homan for comment via a contact form on his website.
The Trump administration’s plan to position Homan, the former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director, as the primary architect of this agenda has been met with a wave of criticism from advocacy groups. In response to Noem’s and Homan’s appointments, a spokesperson for immigrant advocacy group No More Deaths told Newsweek that Homan is a “rabid anti-immigrant extremist.”
AS US ELECTION NEARS, MIGRANTS CONTEMPLATE A PERILOUS JOURNEY
Brian Osgood, Al Jazeera, 5 November 2024
TUCSON, Arizona – In the Sonoran Desert north of Tucson, Arizona, the telltale signs of migrants heading north are scattered beneath shrubby trees and in dried-out stream beds: empty jugs of water, desiccated backpacks, tattered blankets and faded pieces of clothing.
It’s difficult to say how long ago they were left behind. The harsh elements of the desert accelerate the breakdown of clothes and people.
“The conditions are extreme, during the day and the night,” said Francisco, a 30-year-old from southern Mexico who declined to share his last name. “We ran out of food and water on the third day. We drank out of green pools of water on the ground.”
Part-Time Fundraising Coordinator
Application Deadline: November 30, 2024
Start Date: January 7, 2025
Apply Here:https://form.jotform.com/242977363196167
No More Deaths is seeking two part-time fundraising coordinators. This position is responsible for all aspects of fundraising: donor communication and stewardship, donation processing, annual fundraising campaigns, and grant management. The Fundraising Coordinators will form part of the Administrative Working Group.
About No More Deaths
We are a humanitarian organization based in southern Arizona, functioning as a ministry under our fiscal sponsor, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tucson. Our mission is to end migrant death and suffering through civil initiative while defending fundamental human rights within our community. Guided by transformative justice values, we operate as a non-hierarchical organization. This means that employees are expected to actively participate in various operational functions and attend organizational meetings. Our non-hierarchical structure promotes collaboration and inclusivity by distributing key responsibilities—such as decision-making, conflict resolution, staffing, finance, communications with allied groups, and event planning—across all employees.
Job Duties and Responsibilities
Core Responsibilities:
- Manage daily email and phone correspondence.
- Process donations, generate acknowledgments, and maintain accurate records.
- Steward donors by making phone calls, conducting one-on-one meetings, and writing letters.
- Weekly pick up and distribution of incoming mail.
Campaign and Content Creation:
- Create monthly fundraising email blasts and social media posts.
- For the biannual newsletters, solicit and create content, format, coordinate translation, and manage printing and mailing.
- Participate in special fundraising events, like Giving Tuesday and Arizona Gives Day, by creating targeted email blasts and social media content.
Grant Management:
- Seek out opportunities for general funding grants.
- Write grant applications and reports and if necessary, collaborate with working groups to monitor the progress of current grant projects.
Meetings and Events:
- Schedule meetings with program staff and volunteers to learn about updates in their work and current needs.
- Attend monthly Finance meetings and participate in the annual budgeting process.
- Attend Administrative Working Group meetings and NMD meetings.
- Represent NMD at online and local events, including event tabling and fundraising presentations. Create and maintain updated fundraising materials such as brochures, merchandise, and event kits.
As Needed:
- Assist with our upcoming transition from fiscal sponsorship to incorporation by updating tax and banking information on all fundraising documents and platforms
Requirements
Language Proficiency
- Fluent in English.
- Spanish proficiency is highly preferred.
Residency
- Strong preference for residency in Tucson.
- Remote applicants will be considered.
Communication Skills
- Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to build and maintain positive relationships with donors, supporters, and colleagues.
Additional Requirements:
- Deep understanding of and commitment to the mission and work of No More Deaths, with demonstrated connections to the border crisis.
- If local, the ability to make weekly trips to the Post Office, UUCT office, and NMD storage facility.
Preferred Qualifications
- Strong writing and communication skills.
- Excellent interpersonal skills, with an understanding of power and oppression dynamics.
- Effective time management and organizational abilities.
- Proficiency in social networking, online engagement strategies, and database management (e.g. Network for Good or similar systems).
- Demonstrated fundraising experience, including grant writing and crafting direct appeal letters and emails.
Contract Conditions
- Duration and Renewal: 6-month contract with the option for renewal, subject to qualitative assessment at three and six months.
- Training: Includes a two-week training period.
- Work Hours: 20 hours per week.
- Compensation: $22 per hour.
- Work Materials: Provided work materials include a phone, laptop, and printer/scanner.
Our Package Includes
- Work Model: Hybrid model with 90% work from home.
- Benefits: Flexible PTO and Winter Vacation. This position is not eligible for health or retirement benefits.
No More Deaths values diversity and strongly encourages applications from people of color, people with disabilities, women, and LGBTQ+ individuals. We especially welcome candidates with personal ties to the border or those who come from affected communities. U.S. citizenship is not a requirement. No More Deaths is an equal-opportunity employer.
EMERGENCY REPORTS OPERATOR
Application Deadline: October 12, 2024
Start Date: November 6, 2024
Apply Here: https://form.jotform.com/242536227479161
At No More Deaths, we are seeking an Emergency Reports Operator to join the Missing Persons Hotline Team. This role involves contacting Border Patrol agents to initiate searches for missing persons and collaborating with No More Deaths partners and community groups on both sides of the border. The operator will respond to family members’ requests and provide humanitarian, civil, and non-violent assistance in addressing the missing persons crisis in the border areas, ensuring compassionate and effective support for those in need.
About No More Deaths
We are a humanitarian organization based in southern Arizona, functioning as a ministry under our fiscal sponsor, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tucson. Our mission is to end migrant death and suffering through civil initiative while defending fundamental human rights within our community. Guided by transformative justice values, we operate as a non-hierarchical organization. This means that employees are expected to actively participate in various operational functions and attend organizational meetings. Our non-hierarchical structure promotes collaboration and inclusivity by distributing key responsibilities—such as decision-making, conflict resolution, staffing, finance, communications with allied groups, and event planning—across all employees.
Job Duties and Responsibilities
The Emergency Report Operator will work both from our Tucson office and remotely. Duties include:
Emergency Reporting and Communication
- Utilize information and coordinates from the Hotline Operator to determine appropriate Border Patrol stations and make emergency reports.
- Make calls to Border Patrol for emergency or active cases and request searches for missing persons.
- Follow up and maintain communication every two hours with Border Patrol via phone and email.
- Maintain communication with the Hotline Operator every two hours, relaying information from Border Patrol and updating them until the case is closed.
- Collect and document information during interactions, including filing notes, recordings, and logs as needed.
Community and Team Engagement
- Collaborate with working group members to plan, organize, and participate in local community projects and team events, ensuring flexibility in scheduling as needed.
- Accompany and support community members to their immigration court appointments, as needed.
- Actively participate in group meetings, offering feedback and collaborating on projects while engaging with the community on humanitarian efforts
Training and Development
- Attend training courses offered by the team to enhance job performance and stay informed on current operations, projects, and political climate changes.
Communication and Support
- Maintain consistent communication with all working group members, responding promptly to messages via Signal and WhatsApp.
- Remain calm, composed, and focused while performing tasks in stressful situations.
Requirements
Language Proficiency
- Fluent in Spanish, with proficiency in English preferred.
Local Residency
- Residency in Tucson.
Communication Skills
- Ability to communicate effectively with individuals in distress, handle high-stress situations, and maintain composure in intense or emotionally charged conversations.
Team Collaboration
- Ability to effectively contribute as a team member within the Missing Persons Hotline.
- Demonstrates respectful, empathetic, and collaborative communication with working group members.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with Communication Tools: Experience using Signal and WhatsApp.
- Technical Skills: Basic computer proficiency and ability to multitask effectively.
Contract Conditions
- Duration and Renewal: 12-month contract with the option for annual renewal, subject to qualitative assessment at three and six months.
- Training and Observation: Includes a two-week training period and a 90-day paid observation period.
- Work Hours: 30 hours per week.
- Hotline active hours: Monday – Friday, 8:00 am to 10:00 pm
- Compensation: Monthly salary of $22 per hour.
- Work Materials: Provided work materials include a phone, laptop, and hotspot.
Our Package Includes
- Work Model: Hybrid model with 50% work from home.
- Benefits: Flexible PTO and Winter Vacation, medical and dental coverage.
No More Deaths value diversity and strongly encourages applications from people of color, people with disabilities, women, and LGBTQ+ individuals. We especially welcome candidates with personal ties to the border or those who come from affected communities. U.S. citizenship is not a requirement. No More Deaths is an equal opportunity employer.
A NEW REPORT SHOWS SKYROCKETING DEATHS IN EL PASO, NEW MEXICO BORDER REGION
Melissa del Bosque, The Border Chronicle, 9 April 2024
As safe corridors for migration disappear, more people risk their lives crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. And more people die. A new report by the nonprofit No More Deaths, along with a searchable map and database, documents the increasing number of migrant deaths at the border in New Mexico and far West Texas. Until now, not much research has been done on the deaths of people migrating through this section of the border. The project was led by Bryce, a No More Deaths volunteer (who asked that we not use his last name because the Far Right has recently been targeting the group). He, along with several others, have created the most comprehensive database to date of deaths in the Border Patrol’s El Paso Sector, which includes New Mexico and two counties in Texas, El Paso and Hudspeth.
The report covers 15 years, from 2008 to 2023, and it shows many disturbing trends, including the acceleration of deaths that has accompanied “prevention through deterrence,” the U.S. government’s strategy implemented in the 1990s to push migrants into more remote, dangerous crossings. That strategy is now morphing into something all the more tragic as people, increasingly women and children, are barred from accessing asylum and are dying at the doorstep of American cities and towns. In this Q&A, Bryce talks about documenting these deaths, and the discoveries that both shocked and angered him in creating this new report.
Continue readingGROUPS: CBP UNDERCOUNTING MIGRANT DEATHS ON THE BORDER
Julian Resendiz, Border Report, 8 April 2024
EL PASO, Texas – A regional humanitarian nonprofit says the federal government is undercounting migrant deaths and continues to engage in practices such as chases of suspected smugglers that result in third-party fatalities.
Research published in March by the Arizona-based No More Deaths shows two to four times as many migrants died in West Texas and Southern New Mexico in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020 than reported by the government. The deaths resulted from dehydration or hypothermia (depending on the season), falls from mountains or the border wall, drownings, being struck by motor vehicles and being injured during law-enforcement chases.
The group attributes the undercount – which it documents case-by-case in a public database with more than 400 deaths – to insufficient follow-up with hospitals, local police and medical examiners after border agents or officers come upon injured parties or skeletal remains.
Continue readingMIGRANTS IN SASABE STUCK IN FREEZING TEMPS OVERNIGHT, INCLUDING FAMILIES
Danyelle Khmara, AZPM News, 13 February 2024
People began crossing the border Friday, in a remote area east of Sasabe, including many families with children.
Aid volunteer Bryce Peterson says Border Patrol only picked up a limited number of people, so aid groups began bringing migrants to the Border Patrol station in Sasabe.
“Throughout the course of the night another 200 people had showed up,” Peterson said. “So we were dealing with about 400 people who were all freezing cold, wet from being snowed and rained on. All the people that had been walking throughout the night were in really bad shape.”
Migrants have been crossing in that remote area for months, and aid groups are asking Border Patrol to set up a warming station and processing center in the remote area and increase processing capacity at the station in Sasabe.
Seemingly at odds with the aid workers’ account, Customs and Border Protection says they prioritized the humanitarian response to the migrants abandoned in the cold, triaged the situation and prioritized the most vulnerable migrants for transportation.
By Sunday morning, all the migrants had been taken into Border Patrol custody. There were no serious medical emergencies or deaths reported.
