News from the border

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Next up on The World and Everything in It: migrant deaths at the southern border.

For weeks now, we’ve heard report after report of migrant-related tragedies from migrants found dead in a train car to a fire at a migrant detention center. The drumbeat of headlines may feel relentless and even impersonal. But for rural border communities, the situation is much more concrete and costly.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: WORLD Reporters Bonnie Pritchett and Addie Offereins visited a couple of these border towns last week. Bonnie will be bringing some feature stories from the trip in the weeks ahead, but Addie joins us now for a quick update from the trip. Good morning, Addie.

ADDIE OFFEREINS: Good morning.

BUTLER: Well Addie, you’ve seen the headlines, and you’ve been to ground zero of where many of these events took place. Based on what you saw, what is missing from the mainstream coverage of migrant deaths at the border?

OFFEREINS: I don't read many stories that focus on the toll this crisis is taking on these poor rural counties in South Texas. In Brooks County, the sheriff there told us that the county is still trying to pay off different entities in the county for immigrant deaths from 2012. And so there's these costs that these poor counties are facing, which are very understaffed. They don't have the resources to deal with this. And something surprising that we learned was when an immigrant is apprehended and taken into custody, they're in the custody of the federal government. But if that immigrant dies, that becomes the county's jurisdiction. And these counties just don't have the resources to deal with that.

BROWN: Can you give an example of where you saw this in action, and how does it connect to the bigger picture?

OFFEREINS: The first day we were in Eagle Pass, we were doing a ride along with the sergeant who works for the Sheriff's Department in Maverick County, where Eagle Pass is located, and he got the call from border patrol that they just found a body on a ranch. We went along with him and we saw firsthand that this woman had been there for several weeks and most likely was abandoned by her smuggler. So we did see the very real toll of just this confusing situation for everyone involved at the border, and the toll of laws that aren't cracking down on this smuggling activity that is taking place. What we saw wasn't an isolated incident. We saw the body of one woman but there are hundreds of deaths taking place over the span of years and probably will be hundreds more this summer as it gets hotter, as crossings rise—crossings are really higher in the summer months—and the law enforcement we spoke with are concerned that they will rise this summer.

BUTLER: Addie, have the numbers of migrant deaths and smuggling incidents gone up, or is it just that there is more coverage of human smuggling and deaths at the border?

OFFEREINS: Migrant deaths reached an all time high in Eagle Pass last summer. And as crossings fell during the winter months, those deaths fell as well. But they're continuing to still see these deaths on a weekly basis and to still see incidences of smuggling, even as crossings have gone down a bit and they will probably rise as crossings go up during the summer.

BROWN: Addie Offereins is WORLD’s Compassion Beat reporter, and you can stay up to date on stories like these with her weekly Effective Compassion newsletter. Just go to wng.org/newsletters to sign up. Addie, thanks for joining us today.

OFFEREINS: Thanks for having me.

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