Illegal Immigrant Deaths at Southern Border Break Record in FY ’22

The number of illegal immigrants who have died attempting to cross the southern border of the United States has broken a record in FY 2022.

An exclusive CNN report breaks down the numbers, which they claim came directly from the Department of Homeland Security.

“Since October 1, which marks the start of the fiscal year, there have been 748 deaths, a Homeland Security official told CNN, with a month still left to go in the fiscal year. That’s up from 557 southwest border deaths during fiscal year 2021, the previous record.”

This report comes after a tragic incident last week where nine illegal aliens drowned in the Rio Grande. They were part of a group of several dozen people who were attempting to illegally cross the border into Texas.

This is the sad reality and inevitable outcome of what happens when you incentivize illegal immigration.

This sentiment was echoed in comments from Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz. A recent Fox News article cited quotes made by Ortiz in a deposition this past July.

According to the Fox report, Ortiz stated the following in response to a question about border numbers:

“In my experience, we have seen increases when there are no consequences,”

Ortiz was also reported responding with this remark:

“There is an assumption that if migrant populations are told that there is a potential that they may be released, that, yes, you can see increases.“

As we recently blogged about, the border crisis continues to rage on with hundreds of thousands of illegal border encounters every single month over the past year.

It also comes on the heels of border protection getting shortchanged in the FY 2023 budget.

The border crisis has real human consequences. When our elected officials take a laissez faire approach to border security, these types of tragic incidents are bound to continue happening over and again.