SUNLAND PARK, N.M. — In each of the last two summers, Laura Mae Williams, who recovers bodies for the New Mexico Medical Investigator’s Office, has had to visit the U.S.-Mexico borderlands multiple times a week. The Medical Investigator’s Office, part of the University of New Mexico Health System, used to recover only a handful of bodies a year. First responders, elected officials and advocates in New Mexico attribute the spike in deaths largely to Texas Gov. Officials, including the New Mexico Medical Investigator’s Office, also blame smugglers for the deaths, noting that in many cases they abandon people who fall behind — but only after they take their phones. “It raises an important question,” said Dr. Heather Jarrell, the chief medical examiner at the Medical Investigator’s Office, whose office marks the deaths as accidental.

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Persons: Laura Mae Williams, ” Williams, Greg Abbott’s, Andrew Mahaleris, ” Mahaleris, ”, Heather Jarrell Organizations: —, New, New Mexico Medical Investigator’s Office, Patrol, Office, University of New, University of New Mexico Health, Texas Gov, Lone Star, NBC News, Medical Locations: SUNLAND, N.M, New Mexico, U.S, Mexico, El Paso , Texas, University of New Mexico, Arizona, El Paso ., El, Texas, —