A new study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association ties an increase in migrant drownings to the raising of the height of the U.S.-Mexico border wall.
JAMA published a report saying migrant drownings in the Pacific Ocean have increased 3,200% since the border wall height was increased in 2019. That also coincided with an increased rate of severe injuries seen by trauma surgery departments in San Diego, California.
The report was produced after University of California, San Diego researchers "hypothesized that this increase in injury risk may have encouraged more migrants to pursue aquatic and maritime migration routes via the Pacific Ocean and other nearby bodies of water, swimming, floating, or traveling across the international border in boats or other personal watercraft, resulting in an increased incidence of drowning deaths in the region."
The researchers found that 33 drowning deaths off the San Diego coast occurred between 2020 and 2023. The researchers found a 30.6% increase (49 deaths to 64 deaths) in canal drownings.
From 2016 to 2019, there had been just one drowning death before the wall height was raised from 17 feet to 30 feet under then-President Donald Trump.
The researchers also compared the aquatic migrant deaths in areas such as the Rio Grande, that mostly contain no walls as deterrents.
Drowning deaths in the Rio Grande decreased by about 1% between 2016 and 2023, from 97 to 96.
"I think in general the numbers surprised me in that they were higher than I expected," study co-author Anna Lussier, a UCSD School of Medicine doctoral student, told The San Diego Union-Tribune. "And I think I was most surprised by how much they have increased in the ocean in four years."
Data for the study was compiled by the Missing Migrants Project, using the international organization's mortality reports of migrants, refugees, and asylees who go missing or die during migration, Newsweek reported.
The New York Times reported in November that the number of migrants who have fallen while trying to climb over the U.S. southern border wall in an attempt to illegally enter the U.S. and suffered debilitating injuries has increased significantly.
Newsweek said the UCSD study results were published after 10 migrants were injured this month while scaling the bollard-style wall in what authorities dubbed a "mass casualty" incident.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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