Grand Canyon Times

The extreme heat makes summer the most dangerous – and sometimes deadly – time of year for migrants crossing the southern border into Arizona. That’s why border agents are testing new “heat stress kits” to help in times of crisis.

Border Patrol Search, Trauma and Rescue (BORSTAR) agents normally carry medical supplies, but but most Border Patrol agents aren’t equipped with anything besides water and first-aid kits, which is why agents in the Three Points and Casa Grande stations are being given the heat stress kits this summer.

“Though simple, they can be enough to support a desperate individual until more advanced help can arrive,” said John Modlin, CBP chief patrol agent in the Tucson Sector, in a story by KGUN.

Border Patrol agent Jonathan Elledge noted that agents respond to hundreds of search-and-rescue cases relating to heat each year, especially during the summer.

“Over 90% of our calls are gonna be heat-related calls,” he said, according to KGUN. “You see everything from people who don’t know their own name. They’re taking their clothes off. They’re hugging branches and bushes and things like that, just because now their mental state has been altered.”

By providing agents with the stress kits, it could mean the difference between life and death for some migrants before medical help can arrive.

“If our response time is a little extended, this is gonna buy the migrants, the agents, or whoever’s in need, that time,” Modlin said.

Border agents hope that the kits can buy migrants more time and, more importantly, cut down on the number of migrants who die trying to cross the border. So far in 2022, the Tucson sector has reported the remains of 48 dead migrants since October 2021. That’s behind the typical pace, as the Pima County Medical Examiner’s office has reported 215 remains found over the past two years.

“And we’re just starting to get hot,” Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Gregory Hess said. “So I would anticipate that history is a good teacher and we’re going to get quite a few remains this month, is my guess.”