Migrant Drownings in the Rio Grande, PRP 226

For more than 140 years, migrants have drowned in the Rio Grande while attempting to cross into the United States. These drownings date back to the 1880s, when the U.S. Congress passed its first restrictive immigration policies. At the time, newly banned migrants started crossing in between ports of entry, and swimming, wading, or rafting across the Rio Grande into South Texas.i Over the following decades, the U.S. Congress and the executive branch repeatedly revised U.S. immigration policies and strengthened border enforcement efforts, with subsequent effects for migrant risk and mortality.

Individuals drown in the Rio Grande while attempting to swim or wade across the river, help other migrants in distress, or after their rafts or boats capsize far from shore. From 2000 to 2021, the U.S. Border Patrol documented more than 900 drownings in South Texas.ii Additionally, from 2003 to 2023, Mexican authorities recorded 750 more drownings in the same area. Over the past decade, this combined data has totaled between 66 and 144 migrant drowning a year in South Texas alone. These victims were not limited to a single demographic and included men and women, adults and children, and individuals from a range of nationalities. Currently, there are multiple U.S. and Mexican agencies that are tasked with preventing drownings and responding to migrants in distress in the Rio Grande. In the United States, the responsibility lies primarily with the Border Patrol, but also involves the Texas National Guard, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), and local firefighters. In Mexico, the main responding agencies are the National Migration Institute (Instituto Nacional de Migración, INM), the migrant protection agency Grupos Beta, and Civil Protection (Protección Civil). Each of these actors has its own standard operating procedures, equipment, and training for responding to migrant drownings.

This report focuses on migrant drownings in the Rio Grande in South Texas and is divided into four chapters. The first chapter documents 140 years of U.S. immigration policy, border enforcement efforts, and the effects for migrant drownings. The second chapter examines current drowning dynamics in the Rio Grande, using both Border Patrol and Mexican actors’ drowning data. The third chapter covers the various agencies that respond to migrant drownings in the Rio Grande. Finally, the fourth chapter offers recommendations for how various U.S. and Mexico based actors could reduce migrant drownings in the Rio Grande.