Authorities in the Mexican border state of Coahuila are seeing a dramatic decrease in migrant drownings since the start of stricter border security measures implemented by the U.S. government.
Border cities like Piedras Negras and Ciudad Acuna were constantly having to deploy their emergency teams to the Rio Grande to pull out the bodies of migrants that would be swept under the current while trying to get across the border. That trend has changed dramatically since the U.S. government overhauled the asylum process and began implementing stricter border enforcement.
So far this year, the border state of Coahuila has only had five drownings. The most recent one occurred late last week, when authorities responded to an area about 300 yards from one of the two international ports of entry connecting Piedras Negras with Eagle Pass, Texas.
Emergency crews on the Mexican side were able to retrieve the body of a man who was wearing a black shirt and khaki colored pants. The man has not yet been identified.
Information provided to Breitbart News Foundation by emergency personnel in Piedras Negras revealed that in 2022, 2023, and 2024, Coahuila saw almost 400 migrant drownings in the waters of the Rio Grande.
That high number comes at a time when the southern border was seeing a record high number of migrants crossing the border to request asylum during the administration of former President Joe Biden. During that time, cities like Piedras Negras and Ciudad Acuna saw a record number of migrants arrive each day, hoping to cross the river and secure legal status by making asylum claims.
In 2025, after the start of the Trump administration, the number of drownings in Coahuila dropped to 35, as the U.S. government began to implement stricter border enforcement and tightened up the asylum process.
Editor’s Note: Breitbart News Foundation traveled to Mexico City and the states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities. The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas, including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas, if a pseudonym were not used. Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and their original Spanish. This article was written by “C.E Herrera” from Coahuila.
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