Report shows July was the deadliest month in 2 years along Arizona-Mexico border

July was a deadly month for migrants crossing the Arizona-Mexico border.

That’s according to a new report from the southern Arizona aid group Humane Borders.

Humane Borders maintains water stations in Arizona’s vast desert borderland and also works with the Pima County Medical Examiner’s Office to document migrant deaths.

Their latest count shows 19 bodies were recovered along the Arizona-Mexico border last month — the highest monthly count in two years.

Brad Jones is a political science professor at the University of California, Davis and a board member with Humane Borders. He says June and July are always some of the deadlier months in the desert, at the height of summer temperatures and also as monsoon rains make for more treacherous terrain. Last month, he says, most of the bodies recovered were determined to have died recently.

“There’s this narrative that I’m sure you’ve heard that the border is effectively closed — that nobody is crossing. Well this is pretty clear evidence that, not only are people crossing, like crossing recently, within the last few months, but also dying,” Jones said.

The report shows five of the people recovered in July had been dead less than a day, two less than a week, and four less than three months.

The Trump administration has long touted its hardline policies for immigrants across the board and enacted changes at the border that have essentially ended the asylum process there.

Customs and Border Protection data shows the number of apprehensions made by immigration officers along the border is at a historic low. Nevertheless, Jones says, aid groups are still documenting deaths.

“Which is of concern, because it leads me to think that, however risky it is to cross through the Arizona desert in a normal year, it’s even more risky and dangerous these days,” he said.

But Jones says just like during past eras, this period of ramped up border enforcement hasn’t stopped migration.

“The notion that the border is fully closed is always an illusion,” he said. “If there’s an existential need, or an existential push for migrants or asylum seekers to leave where they’re at, some are going to make the attempt to come here,” he said.

Jones says the number of remains found this year in Arizona’s desert borderland could eclipse the count last year.

Humane Borders says the remains of 73 people have been located this year in Arizona, compared with 59 this time last year and 103 for all of 2025. The group has documented over 4,500 deaths along the Arizona-Mexico border over the last 25 years.