Surveillance towers save the lives of migrants in need of rescue.

But this year, as a rising number of migrants cross the sweltering desert of West Texas, where temperatures for almost 10 consecutive days have neared 110 degrees, Carrillo said he remains worried, though hopeful. So far, he and his office have found the remains of four people, down from around 20 last year.

“New technology, so far, has been very effective,” said Carrillo, a six-term sheriff in Culberson County, about 120 miles east of El Paso, which last year saw a record number of people dying in the rugged expanse of mountainous terrain of West Texas.

Carrillo encountered so many bodies that he began carrying body bags in his truck, along with his standard bulletproof vest.

“It’s miserable out there, but so far we have rescued quite a few people in distress because of new tools and that’s encouraging,” he said.

The sheriff is referring to what the U.S. Border Patrol calls a “force multiplier.” They include the addition of dozens of so-called 30-foot-tall solar powered rescue beacons, which provide a lifeline to the migrants who find themselves lost and in need of help.

Additional rescue beacons with added technology went up this year in the El Paso and Big Bend sectors and that includes Culberson County, one of the most treacherous areas for migrants because of its isolation.

Hundreds of 911 metal placards with a number code at the bottom for migrants to call from their own cellphones and alert agents of their location. The calls are triangulated with other authorities, including Carrillo’s sheriff’s office.

Then there are the solarpowered “autonomous surveillance towers,” or ASTs. These moveable towers come complete with an artificial intelligence system that relies on thermal imaging, cameras and radar to help determine whether a moving object is an animal, vehicle or person. Each one beams its location coordinates to U.S. Border Patrol agents.

Beyond providing a way to spot people crossing the border, the surveillance towers also “provide agents with situational awareness on migrants in distress that are in need of rescue,” said Landon Hutchens, a spokesman for U.S, Customs Border Protection, or CPB, for the El Paso sector.

The deadliest year

In fiscal year 2021, agents performed 688 rescues. So far in fiscal year 2022, which began in October, agents have performed more than 350 rescues, though the difficult days of summer have yet to start, said Carlos Rivera, spokesman for the U.S. Border Patrol El Paso Sector.

“We encourage migrants to come up to a beacon, or a 911 metal placard and either press the button to seek help, rather than expose themselves to potential death in the desert,” Rivera explained, adding it’s too early to determine with statistics how effective the new tools have been.