Border Patrol warns of deadly heat for border-crossers
The U.S. Border Patrol is gearing up for rescues and warning migrants that a coming heat wave can be deadly in southern Arizona’s deserts.
The agency’s Yuma Sector said Thursday its Border Patrol Search, Trauma, and Rescue team is on high alert. The BORSTAR team will patrol remote areas of the Sonoran desert where chances of surviving a desert crossing are slim.
Agents in the Tucson Sector have been reassigned to areas that historically have seen a large number of rescues to respond to calls for help.
Nearly 60 rescue beacons that migrants can activate to call for help are placed across the region.
Forecasters say temperatures will likely top 115 degrees next week. Officials say it’s impossible to carry enough water to survive a desert crossing in that heat.
