Mt. Cristo Rey hikers face border crossings, rising safety concerns in Sunland Park

Mt. Cristo Rey is still drawing hikers, pilgrims and weekend visitors from El Paso and Sunland Park, but the ground underfoot comes with real risk. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has repeatedly described the mountain area as a smuggling corridor, and that danger has shown up in rescues, arrests and deaths across the Sunland Park desert.

The most immediate warning for anyone planning the climb is the terrain itself. CBP said 13 migrants were rescued from Mt. Cristo Rey after trying to move down the rocky slopes in darkness, a reminder that the mountain’s steep faces are far less forgiving after sunset. In 2020, Santa Teresa Border Patrol said it foiled six smuggling attempts near the mountain since March, and in one incident agents arrested 63 people and gave first aid to an injured migrant. CBP has said the area’s limited infrastructure and natural concealment make it attractive to smugglers, but they also make it a harder, more hazardous landscape for anyone on foot.

That risk widened in June and July 2024. On June 22, CBP said lost migrants requested aid near Santa Teresa, and on June 25 agents encountered a group near McNutt Road in Sunland Park, about 4.6 miles northwest of the Paso Del Norte Port of Entry. In early July, CBP reported four bodies found in the Sunland Park desert, part of about 20 lives lost in the area in just over a month. For hikers and pilgrims, that means the mountain is not just scenic high ground above El Paso and Ciudad Juárez, but a border landscape where people, heat, darkness and steep ground can turn dangerous fast.

The mountain also carries a different kind of weight: it is a longtime Catholic pilgrimage site. The annual Mount Cristo Rey pilgrimage drew thousands in 2024 and marked its 85th anniversary, underscoring how deeply the site matters to local faith communities. When CBP moved ahead with a plan for approximately 1.32 miles of new border barrier south of Mount Cristo Rey in Doña Ana County, 58 commenters warned the project could disrupt the annual pilgrimages. CBP acknowledged the mountain’s importance to Indigenous tribes and to pilgrims who climb it regularly.

By February 2025, temporary Normandy-style steel barriers were already in place on the western slope. By April 2026, blasting had begun for a planned 1.3-mile wall near the mountain, drawing opposition from environmentalists and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces. For anyone heading to Mt. Cristo Rey now, the message is plain: check conditions, plan for daylight, and treat the route as active border terrain, not an ordinary local trail.