Agents with the Border Patrol Search, Trauma and Rescue team (BORSTAR) provide first aid to a man (not pictured) who flagged down a car for help off a highway in Pima County on April 9, 2019. The man told agents he was from Guatemala and had been lost the desert for several days.
Tucson Sector agents responded to 151 calls for help between July 1 and July 20, rescuing more than 1,100 border crossers.
They also encountered human remains.
The Pima County medical examiner has documented 64 sets of remains of border crossers this year through June.
Joel Garcia, in charge of the Border Patrol Ajo Station, says apprehensions continue to rise in the Ajo area.
“That means more migrants risking their lives and more needing rescue,” he said. “Arizona’s west desert is the most dangerous place to cross the southwest border, and this intense heat only increases the chances for tragedy.”
The number of apprehensions in the Tucson Sector in June was about 24,000, which is slightly higher than apprehensions at the beginning of the year before a spike in March, April and May.
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