Policies at southern border pushing migrants to take greater risks, advocates say

Migrants are pushing the boundaries and deaths are rising.

Ely Ortiz is used to receiving heartbreaking phone calls.

But Ortiz, the president of Aguilas del Desierto, or Desert Eagles, a volunteer-run organization that conducts search and rescue missions for migrants who are believed to be missing or dead, still remembers a call one night in 2019 from a pregnant woman who said her husband was lost somewhere near the Arizona border.

The woman said her husband called to tell her he crossed into the United States, but became disoriented when he tried to reunite with the smugglers who had advised him to go around a port of entry and cross the border in a remote region where there was no wall. Ortiz dispatched a team of rescuers and says 14 relatives of the missing man joined his team, including his father and brother.

After a few hours of searching, Ortiz said they found his body already rapidly decaying under the desert sun. His brother identified the remains.