Battalion Search and Rescue GoFundMe

Help Battalion Search and Rescue Save Lives and Recover the Lost

Battalion Search and Rescue is an all-volunteer, Arizona- and New Mexico-based humanitarian group dedicated to searching the U.S.-Mexico borderlands for missing and deceased migrants. Since our founding in 2020, our efforts have saved lives, brought dignity to the dead, and provided closure to grieving families who might otherwise never know what happened to their loved ones.

We began our work in southern Arizona and expanded into New Mexico in 2023. Today, we conduct monthly search operations just west of El Paso — an area that has quietly become the deadliest stretch of the entire U.S.-Mexico border. More than half of the people who perish here are women — twice the average for the borderlands — and yet this crisis remains severely underreported.

In less than two years, over 100 deceased women have been found in a concentrated 10x20 mile corridor. In this part of the desert, women are leading women to find women — the majority of our New Mexico volunteers are women themselves, navigating harsh terrain and systemic indifference to bring these stories to light.

Our Arizona searches continue during the winter months, when extreme heat is less deadly. On those missions, our teams backpack deep into the Sonoran Desert for multi-day searches. On every trip, we encounter an average of 8 to 10 sites containing human remains. These are people — not numbers — who were seeking safety, opportunity, or simply survival.

We face significant challenges:

Land restrictions in Arizona prevent us from using vehicles in the Cabeza Prieta Wilderness and Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, forcing us to hike long distances.

In New Mexico, much of the border has been declared a military zone, restricting humanitarian access under the guise of national defense.

State agencies often delay or neglect recovery efforts, forcing volunteers to do what the government will not.

And yet, we persist. In the last 20 months alone, we have located over 70 sites with human remains.

We also encounter living individuals in distress and offer food, water, basic medical support, and direction. We believe in dignity for all people. We refuse to participate in the dehumanizing and criminalizing narratives that dominate national discourse. Migrants and refugees are not threats — they are some of the most vulnerable people among us. Many of us come from migrants and refugees ourselves, or we are guests on land once seasonally traversed by ancient Indigenous peoples.

Our work is grassroots. We are unpaid. We rely on donations to cover gas, food, gear, satellite communication, and recovery supplies. Every dollar goes directly to supporting search efforts and honoring the lives of those who too often die in silence.

Please consider donating today. Help us bring water to the thirsty, direction to the lost, and dignity to the dead. We are not just finding bodies. We are telling stories, naming the forgotten, and standing in solidarity with those hunted in life and abandoned in death.

Thank you for your compassion, your support, and your belief in a more just world.

— Battalion Search and Rescue

"We Search for the Lost But Not Forgotten"