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  4. Summary of Incident: Man succumbs to heat-related emergency after crossing the border illegally

Summary of Incident: Man succumbs to heat-related emergency after crossing the border illegally

Release Date
Tue, 01/28/2025

This notification is being issued to the public pursuant to the CBP policy regarding Notification and Review Procedures for Certain Deaths and Deaths in Custody and the Department of Homeland Security FY 2021 Appropriation (H. Rept. 116-458) reporting requirements related to CBP-involved deaths.

 On July 7, 2024, at approximately 5:45 p.m., Border Patrol Agents (BPA) patrolling near Santa Teresa, New Mexico on all-terrain vehicles encountered a group of illegal aliens approximately 5.6 miles northwest of the Santa Teresa, New Mexico port of entry. A male Mexican member of the group was unconscious, and the BPAs suspected that he was suffering a heat-related medical emergency. The BPAs used water and ice to attempt to lower the man’s body temperature and used their radios to request assistance from emergency medical services (EMS) and Border Patrol Search Trauma and Rescue (BORSTAR). At approximately 6:01 p.m., a BORSTAR emergency medical technician (EMT) arrived, assessed the man’s condition, and continued rendering aid.

BORSTAR EMTs placed the man in the backseat of a Border Patrol vehicle and transported him approximately 100 yards to a nearby highway, to facilitate the arrival of local emergency medical services and reduce the time required to obtain advanced medical care.

At approximately 6:15 p.m., Dona Ana Fire Department arrived to assist; however, there was no ambulance available to respond. At approximately 6:25 p.m., an ambulance from Sunland Park Fire Department arrived. At approximately 6:36 p.m., the ambulance transported the man to Hospitals of Providence - Transmountain Campus in El Paso, Texas. A Border Patrol EMT rode with the man to provide medical care. The ambulance report indicates that the man was unresponsive and had an elevated pulse rate and labored breathing.

At approximately 7:01 p.m., doctors at the hospital assumed primary medical care of the man. The doctors treated him for severe dehydration and heatstroke and admitted him to the intensive care unit. Border Patrol initially established hospital watch at the hospital but subsequently granted compassionate parole status based on his need for advanced medical care. The man remained in critical condition under medical care from July 7, 2024, until July 15, 2024, when he passed away.

On July 9, 2024, at approximately 2:15 p.m., CBP Office of Professional Responsibility Special Agents interviewed one of the aliens the agents had encountered with the man, who said that he was the man’s brother. None of the other members of the group had a familial connection to the man. The man’s brother provided the Special Agents biographical and identifying information for the man and said that he and the man had crossed the border with a group. He said that the man was not ill when they started traveling and had no knowledge of prior medical conditions. The man’s brother said that the man began feeling ill while they were walking in the desert and that the man said he could not continue walking. The man’s brother said that the BPAs tried to help the man, tried to cool him with water and ice, carried him to a vehicle, and drove him to the road so an ambulance could reach him.

The El Paso Office of the Medical Examiner will not be conducting an autopsy, as the man’s remains were moved out of its jurisdiction by his family.

CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility is reviewing the incident. The Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General was notified.

Last Modified: Jan 29, 2025