According to a report released Tuesday by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the U.S.-Mexico border was the “most dangerous land migration route in the world” in 2022, with 686 deaths or missing people.
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“This figure represents almost half of the 1,457 dead and missing migrants” recorded in the Americas for 2022, the “deadliest year” since the IOM’s Missing Migrants Project began in 2014, this source said.
“In 2022, 668 migrant deaths were recorded (100 women, 454 men, 31 minors and 83 people of undetermined gender and age)” at the United States-Mexico border, this annual report said, according to a statement.
If deaths decline by 8% compared to 2021, the 2022 figure is “likely higher than available information suggests,” given the lack of official figures from neighboring Texas or Mexico’s search and rescue agency.
The leading causes of death along the extensive U.S.-Mexico border are drowning (212), motor vehicle accidents or deaths caused by unsafe transportation (71), extreme weather conditions, and lack of shelter, food and water (156).
Nearly half (307) of the deaths occurred in the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts. For comparison: In 2022, 212 migrants lost their lives in the Sahara, although the IOM warns that it only has incomplete figures.
In North America, Mexico, Guatemala and Cuba are the countries with the most deaths during their dangerous migration, according to the IOM.
“These alarming figures are a stark reminder of the need for states to take decisive action,” Michele Klein Solomon, IOM regional director for North America, Central America and the Caribbean, was quoted as saying in the press release.
According to the report, “One of the most concerning current trends is the increase in deaths along migration routes in the Caribbean, with 350 deaths recorded in 2022 compared to 245 in 2021.”