Despite a 90% drop in migrant apprehensions since Trump took office, thousands continue attempting to cross the southern border through increasingly dangerous routes, with smugglers coordinating remotely by phone and sending migrants alone through treacherous terrain like Otay Mountain and the Sonoran Desert. On Sept. 14, 2025, a 30-year-old mother of three from southern Mexico, hoping to work and send money home to her children and parents, died while hiking through the Otay Mountain Wilderness after crossing from Tijuana. She sent voice messages to her family as she walked, describing helicopters and Border Patrol trucks nearby, and was within view of a federal surveillance tower equipped with infrared cameras; her body was not recovered for two weeks.