How dangerous is it really crossing the border?

16 comments

1. Exactly. You cross and then you’re in the middle of the desert

2. A lot of places are incredibly dangerous to cross because of how remote they are.

3. The trek itself is actually long and dangerous (people come from Central and South America) and then after you cross many, many people die of exposure and thirst.

   Some people were flown to my state of Massachusetts from Venezuela and we raised money for them, got them phones, clothes, etc.

   Their stories were awful. Deaths of their companions/family members included falls from cliffs when they had to climb mountains passes, a drowning in mud, drowning crossing a river, and being beaten by a cartel and their gold teeth pulled.

   So while the border is dangerous from American militias, Mexican cartels, and unforgiving heat in an expansive desert — often it’s only part of the danger they faced.

4. Border patrol reports on average 400 deaths a year of migrants trying to get into the county and that’s probably on the low end. If you make it through the desert, you still have to cross the Rio Grande which, which is extremely dangerous.

5. Not Mexico, but I’ve done remote crossings into Canada, with the proper paperwork in place to do so. It’s mostly an honor system thing though, it would have been quite easy for me to not check in once I’d crossed the border and stayed in Canada illegally.

6. Dangerous? You drive up to a checkpoint and show your ID. Nothing dangerous about it.

7. The remoteness is what makes it dangerous

8. There are places where you could probably cross easily… But then you’re in the middle of the desert. A lot of people die from environmental factors like drowning in the Rio Grande or dying of exposure out in the desert after running out of water.

9. You’re in the middle of the desert along nearly all of the Mexican-American border. If you didn’t know exactly where you were going, weren’t prepared for the environment, or aren’t found by border patrol, there is a very real possibility you could die.

10. A minimum of 2.4 million illegal immigrants made it across the border this year, because that’s the amount of interactions border patrol has recorded. You can assume at least double that amount got through without encountering border patrol.

    Yes it can be dangerous if you’re not prepared properly for it as any trek through wildlands can be. But a great deal many people do it anyways.

11. You’re right. And then you’re in the middle of nowhere with no transportation. It might be very hot or very cold. The terrain is often difficult to walk through.

    Many, many people have been found dead in the desert after crossing the border. That’s why most of the undocumented immigrants in the US are people who overstayed their visas, not people who snuck across the border. The people who try are desperate and willing to risk death to do it.

12. Texan here. It’s dangerous because it’s mostly all dessert and blazing hot. It’s the type of heat that can kill you very quickly if you aren’t prepared (heat stroke, dehydration). People cross in those areas because they ***are*** that remote. People die or disappear crossing the border. I actually know someone whose cousin from central America tried to make the journey, and no one ever heard from him again. It was really sad.

13. My father was human-trafficked here from Mexico by white Americans. He was a minor at the time and had no clue he would be left here once he was done with a forced construction job. He was way too scared to go back to Mexico because he would have to cross the border alone, as a minor, looking like a minor. So he made a life here, a country he now hated. He refused to ever work construction again tho.
    My godmother was essentially raped by the coyotes who brought her here. She was visibly pregnant, they waited for her to go off to pee and a couple men followed. Her husband managed to wrestle them off her before it went on very longer tho, but she was traumatized since and used her story to try and talk down others from crossing.

    -I always get downvotes when I mention being Mexican-American. Don’t be mad, I’m just like you, I can vote. 🙂

14. I imagine it’s not dangerous at all if you go through the legal ports of entry.

15. My partner volunteered with No Más Muertes in college (way before we met) which left food and water in the desert for people because so many people die out there.

    My family is from a border area where you could see Mexico from my grandmother’s house. You will die walking out there. It’s 110 degrees or more out there, no shade, no water, and miles and miles to go.

16. There’s plenty of places along the border that aren’t guarded, but they’re dangerous AF- which is why they aren’t guarded.