As the number of illegal crossings in the U.S. have plumet since Donald Trump's return to the White House, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that 2024 became the deadliest year on record for migrants around the world, logging nearly 9,000 deaths. And according to the data, a big percentage of migrant deaths occurred in the Americas.
On March 21, the leading organization within the United Nations system promoting humane and orderly migration said that, for the fifth consecutive year, the number of deaths on migration routes saw an increase with at least 8,938 deaths reported in 2024. Since 2020, the number of migrant deaths has more than doubled.
Out of that number, at least 1,233 such deaths took place along migrant routes in the Americas, including the Darien Gap and the U.S.-Mexico border.
Forty-two percent of all migrant deaths in the Americas — 523 in total — were reported along the U.S.-Mexico border, while the treacherous jungle trek known as the Darien Gap took the lives of 174 migrants in 2024, data from the IOM revealed.
Ugochi Daniels, Deputy Director General for Operations at the IOM, said in a statement that "the tragedy of the growing number of migrant deaths worldwide is both unacceptable and preventable. She added that "behind every number is a human being, someone for whom the loss is devastating," highlighting the need for an "international, holistic response that can prevent further tragic loss of life."
The data published by the organization on March 21 revealed that 187 migrants also died along routes that connect the Caribbean Sea to U.S. coastlines. But as the IOM points out, the actual number of migrant deaths and disappearances could be much higher, as many deaths have gone undocumented due to the lack of official sources. In addition, the identities and demographic characteristics of the majority of people who have died or gone missing are unknown.
Although the organization said that data from the Americas is yet to be finalized, it pointed out that 2024 was a record year in terms of migrant deaths in the Caribbean and along the Darien Gap.
In the last 10 years, data from the IOM and the Missing Migrants Project reveals that at least 11,038 people have died along migration routes across the Americas. The majority of them (58%) were reported in the U.S.-Mexico border, while 758 people were reported dead around the Caribbean Sea and 542 others along the Darien Gap.
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