U.N. organization dubs U.S. southern border 'deadliest land crossing in the world'

United Nations group the International Organization for Migration has determined the U.S.-Mexico border is now deadliest land crossing in the world.

The group's July 1 report claimed that at least "1,238 lives have been lost during migration in the [north, central and south] Americas in 2021, among them at least 51 children."

"At least 728 of these deaths occurred on the United States-Mexico border crossing, making this the deadliest land crossing in the world," the report also states.

The number of deaths on the border is much higher than any previous year, even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and yet the number remains an undercount, also according to the report. 

The increase in death numbers is being attributed to an increase in mass migration at the border during the Biden administration.

Over the weekend, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said, despite surging numbers and the recent discovery of at least 53 dead migrants in the back of a truck in Texas, "I think that we are doing a good job."

"The border has been a challenge for decades – ultimately, Congress must pass legislation to once and for all fix our broken immigration system," he continued. "We’ve stopped more than 400 vehicles and saved and rescued more than 10,000 migrants." Though it is unclear whether those migrants were sent back from whence they came, or more likely, released into the United States.

Migrants on the perilous journey through South and Central America to the U.S. border often die at sea, on highways, in desert, river and jungle terrain, while also attempting to navigate the dangerous cartel-run smuggling systems.