Security buildup on the U.S.-Mexico border, including the construction of ever taller and longer fences, the practices of “chase and scatter” employed by Border Patrol agents, and other forms of militarized policing, have resulted in at least 7,500 people dying during their attempts to cross it over the past two decades. Even more migrants have been injured during the journey, yet there is no public accounting of border-related trauma. Border Injury Archive is a documentary project that aims to collect, systematize, and analyze data on border crosser injuries. It draws on public records requests from federal agencies, information from consulates, hospitals, humanitarian aid organizations working with migrants and other sources, to create a public database that will provide researchers, policymakers, and the public with a better understanding of the impact of border militarization on human lives.
More details will be available soon.