Prevention Through Deterrence is a set of policies instituted by the United States to deter the illegal crossing of its southern border with Mexico.[1] First introduced in a document entitled "Border Patrol Strategic Plan of 1994 and Beyond", this policy has since been used to police high-traffic areas of the Mexico–United States border.[1]
Since its institution, the number of migrant deaths at the southern border of the U.S. has doubled, with 75% occurring in the Sonoran Desert.[2] Mexico's Secretariat of Foreign Affairs places the number of deaths at roughly 450 per year (including migrant deaths on both the US and Mexican territory).[3]