In the past two decades, at least 5,570 people have disappeared while crossing the Mexico-United States border.

Eduardo Canales, director of South Texas Human Rights Center, says his group’s mission is to eliminate migrant deaths and to mitigate migrant suffering in and around checkpoints.

His organization also works to educate the public on the deadly impacts of militarization on the border. “It is a humanitarian crisis,” Canales says, “and we will do everything we can to teach people about policies that are causing death.”

Canales says the walls are not a deterrent. “When you have a deterrence policy as the fundamental basis for immigration and an enforcement-only approach, you’re still going to have deaths.”

Canales is forwarding a common-sense solution. “We need to change the way we look at migration and create pathways for people to come in and to leave.” Labor mobility will save lives, he argues.