El Paso County adopts resolution denouncing migrant deaths, asks for better data and humanitarian aid

El Paso County Commissioners Court on Jan. 13 adopted a resolution denouncing an ongoing crisis of migrant deaths in the El Paso Border Patrol sector and urging measures to improve counting, search-and-rescue capacity and community-based humanitarian aid.

The resolution, introduced by Commissioner Stout and seconded by Commissioner Olguin, passed on a voice vote. It cites International Organization for Migration figures and local analysis showing rising fatalities in the El Paso sector, and urges county-level steps to make those deaths visible and to coordinate humanitarian responses.

Why it matters: Speakers at the meeting said the fatalities have risen steeply in recent years and are occurring close enough to El Paso that county-level public-health, identification and family-notification systems can and should act. Commenters pressed for the county medical examiner to classify and publish mortality data that would allow researchers and aid groups to target life-saving interventions, such as water placement and canal safety measures.

Community voices and requests

Monsignor Arturo Banuelas, a priest who said he works with Hope Border Institute, told the court, "To ignore this crisis is to deny the humanity and dignity of those who have died." He described finding personal belongings — "backpacks, bibles, medicine, pictures of loved ones" — in desert locations and said harsh enforcement measures increase danger.

Aime Santillan, policy analyst for the Hope Border Institute, said the county must act to collect and publish data and noted demographic details in recent years: "2023 marked the first year that fatalities totaled more than 100. In 2024 we saw almost 200 deaths in the region." She asked the court to "help us collect that data through the office of the medical…