From Marfa Public Radio:
A photo of a Salvadoran father and his two-year-old daughter lying face down in the waters of the Rio Grande is attracting a large amount of commentary. Their bodies, found across the river from Brownsville, underscore the conditions migrants face – conditions that are increasingly treacherous as U.S. Border Patrol enforcement efforts increase.
Last month, the number of migrants apprehended was the highest seen in more than a decade; 144,000 people – families, single adults and unaccompanied children – in just one month.
Now, would-be migrants are taking life-threatening chances, attempting to cross in rural and remote places usually seen as too treacherous or dangerous to pass. They’re trying in places in the Big Bend sector, with miles and miles of rugged and hot desert terrain. The sector’s Presidio station is the focal point for a rise in both risky crossings, and migrants waiting in Mexico to make asylum claims.
