Sharp Rise In Deaths Along Arizona Border

Tightened Border Security Drives Illegal Migrants Towards Riskier Desert Routes

(AP)  The number of illegal immigrants who die trying to cross into Arizona from Mexico is rising despite tighter border security that was to serve as a deterrent, a border medical examiner says.

Instead, deaths along much of the Arizona border - the busiest illegal entry point on the 1,950-mile U.S.-Mexico frontier - are ahead of the record pace set two years ago, said Dr. Bruce Parks, a medical examiner whose office performs autopsies on many of the illegal immigrants who die in Arizona.

Parks said 181 bodies or sets of remains were recovered between Jan. 1 and Sept 8, compared with 148 in the same period last year. In 2005, officials found 166 bodies during that period.

Many of those victims will have died because of the heat, which regularly exceeds 100 degrees during the hottest part of the Arizona summer.

"We still anticipate finding remains between now and the first of the month," said the Rev. Robin Hoover, founder of the Tucson-based Humane Borders group, which has had search parties out looking for bodies the last two weekends. "There's bodies out there that we know of that we just haven't found yet."

Hoover's group also places water tanks throughout the desert for use by migrants trying to cross the desert from Mexico into the U.S. "Someone will walk out and say 'these two people died' and tell us about where and we go out and try to find them," Hoover said.

Border Patrol statistics show a higher death toll, but the agency's count for 2007 began with the start of the federal fiscal year on Oct. 1. According to federal figures, 197 bodies or remains have been recovered in Arizona's deserts through Aug. 31. In the year-earlier period, 200 were found.

"The patrol doesn't want to see any deaths," said Dove Haber, a spokeswoman in the patrol's Tucson sector, which covers most of the Arizona border except for an area around Yuma. "Our ideal would be that there would be none. The positive is that our rescue numbers are high."

Lloyd Easterling, a Border Patrol spokesman in Washington, said he believes more skeletal remains are being found because the agency's ramp-up of personnel and resources has more agents out patrolling remote, treacherous terrain.

Hoover said the Border Patrol's efforts to shut off migration have just forced illegal immigrants to cross even more dangerous ground.

Easterling said the number of deaths across the entire Southwestern border of the United States stood at 371 as of the end of August, compared to 442 two years ago. The total for all of the 2005 fiscal year was a record 494.

[Krazcarl]

g17mtjag,,,excellent info...

[g17mtjag]

Mexican people have lived in Mexico for 20,000 years and have seen empires and conquests come and go. Mexican independence from Spain came from a revolution in 1810.

A second revolution was fought from 1910 to 1921 and killed 1 million Mexicans (of a population of 15 million at that time: 1 in 15 killed). You can read more about that by googling Mexican Revolution.

In between these 2 revolutions Mexico endured an invasion and occupation by the United States (1848), a war that the US started in order to acquire more than half of Mexico''s territory.

The Native Americans of Mexico (Aztecs, Mayans, Tarascans, others) faced conquests by the Spanish and the French. It''s status as a Colonial outpost of each of these empires has had "some" impact on its current economic reality having for centuries been a supplier of wealth to the Spanish empire and the French Empire of Napoleon III who installed the Austrian Maximillian as Emperor of Mexico.

But Mexico remains Mexican. Over 60 percent of Mexico today is mixed race Native American and European while 30 percent remains unmixed Native American. Unlike the conquerors further north in the US, Conquerors of Mexico, although brutal, married native Mexicans and produced the only nation that brings to the modern world the merger of European and American culture. Many Mexicans speak SPANISH as a second language, or not at all. Many speak only their Native American language (Nauhatl and others)

[slim1h2o]

We can''''t fix their government for them, they have to do it for themselves. Remember the American revolution? We fought and died to fix ours, let them do the same....




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by CharlesDJohn at 08:39 AM : Sep 16, 2007
As if that''s going to happen,,,,,,,,,,any time soon anyways

[charlesdjohn]

What part of "illegal" don''t you people understand?

The problem of illegal aliens did not start with the Bush Administration nor will it end there.

The problem is that America is a really good place to live and that Mexico is a 3rd world sh*thole.

We can''t fix their government for them, they have to do it for themselves. Remember the American revolution? We fought and died to fix ours, let them do the same....

[AgentGGG]

We should be encouraging the Mexican government to adopt economic policies that encourage growth and jobs in their own country. We should be investing in the Mexican market, instead of all the way in China.

[rohink-2009]

Reminds me of the beatles song......
"It''s getting better all the time"

[tucano2]

Happy the American Desert is killing illegal aliens; for sure George Bush doen''t have the cojones to do his job.

[olebd]

Maybe word on the street will get back to all of them trying to cross that it is much too risky now and they will all stay put(?)

I know, wishful thinking.

The only way this will get better is if the USA gets tougher. Enough is enough.

[ne_patriot7]

"Sharp Rise In Deaths Along Arizona Border"

Good!!!.. now, if that percentage could only close in on 100%, the problem would be resolved..

[likeitis5050]

BTW, they don''''t risk their lives to come here just to get whatever they can "for free". Conditions in Mexico really are so bad that it seems worth risking their lives. And *that''''s* just the way Bush wants to keep it!


Posted by MyIDonCBS at 05:22 PM : Sep 15, 2007

So Fox has nothing to do with the problem...it''s a simple matter of Bush keeping things so awful in Mexico that millions of illegals risk lives to get here? Really?

[Krazcarl]

I''m the village idiot on this I always thought they drove over for a visit and didn''t go back. But I hear they pay ungodly anounts of cash to rascals that parade them through the wilderness to cross or nightime boat trips think I''d take the boat. What do you do when the guide takes a wizz break and doesn''t come back and your stuck in the woods with no or little cash they try lost and confused so the problem isn''t us it''s the mexicans problem of allowing this illegal activity. Most of these guys got jobs lined up before they leave that''s the problem on our end if we pull busness permits and heavy fines there would be no problem the solution is easy.

[arnoldbowers]

YOU g17mtjag must not be an American.the illegal do not have a right to cross the borders of our country & take the benefits we have earned through our labor. Seal iour ID''s and ruin our credit. No we like they can move from one state to another as long as it is within our country. Just think gw bush moved from Conn. to Texas he evens claims to be a Texan he is not but that is what he claims he is a deserter and does not claim that though he like the foreign illegal aliens lie and steal thing that do not belong to them.
When you reach the golden years&have nothing saved due 2 the fact your tax have eaten up all your income &savings due to the illegal aliens using them illegal at the clinics and hospitals birthing their illegal alien babies, free food, WIC, housing faster than you can pay them then&only then you will regret ever having said the things you have here.
The Americans over seas working have the governments permission which is different than being illegal aliens the best of good byes from Frank Bowers of Austin, TX

[carolrhill]

These people are illegal so what do they expect. They cross into our borders at their own risk.
What does at "At Your Own Risk" mean anyway. Is the UNITED STATES supposed to watch for everyone who cross our border or what. They cross when nobody is there so they are on their own. Right Right!!!

[arnoldbowers]

I really wish this g17mtjag person would think of what, if he is an American, he is saying in his 2 post here. First the Americans that are in foreign countries are there with that governments permission and there are a couple million of them at that not a thousand or so as he spoke of (Gee we have nearly 500,000 in Iraq alone not to mention the other countries that gw bush has sent them to rob them of their minerals) England, Japan, Germany the list is long and their children and spouses are with them legally. The fact is they are not taking free medicine, housing, school, transportation, reduced electric, free birthing clinics and other social services we have in this country for our citizens not an illegal alien.
Another mis understood fact is yes we Americans who are citizens can and do leave one state and move to another just like the mexicans in mexico leave one state and move to another with any problem. That is not the problem nor is it a problem. (good exapmole meay don''t like gw bush but he move here from Conn. The PROBLEM IS they are leaving their country and coming here with out our federal government permission. They are stealing our social services. Stealing our ID''s and using them illegal. The best of good byes frank bowers of austin, tx

[g17mtjag]

(I try writing better)

I didn''t forget the word illegal. As I mentioned, 7 million US citizens live and work in countries outside of the United States. Most do that legally. Some do it illegally. The ones who do it legally do so because the laws of the other countries are written to allow them to do so.

Given that we are the ones who control what our laws allow, it is our obligation to write laws that do what is needed.

Personally, I think Bush''''s guestworker program and proposed laws were a good idea.

Others want to simply further restrict the supply of legal immigration and want to ignore the reasons for it on both sides.

Yes, American business wants and needs more labor.

[g17mtjag]

I didn''t forget the work illegal. As I mentioned, 7 million US citizens live and work in countries outside of the United States. Most do that legally. Some do it illegally. The ones who do it legally do so because the laws of the other countries are written to allow them to do so.

Given that we are the ones who control what our laws allow, it is our obligation to write laws that do what is needed.

Personally, I think Bush''s guestworked program and proposed laws were a good idea.

Other apparently want to simply further restrict the supply of legal immigration and want to ignore the reasons for it on both sides.

Yes, American business wants and needs more labor.

[cjw3cma]

Those who have died are illegals trying to cross into the USA. So many posters seem to forget that the term illegal is the most important word in these stories. If they would follow the rules for legal entry they may still be alive. But they continue to break the rules and if they die, that was their choice.

I lived in San Diego for over 50 years and left there because of the influence of the immigrants over the local governments - bending over backwards to support illegals with US taxpayer funds.

It''s a shame.

[g17mtjag]

A lot of Mexico is very poor, but not all of it. Much of Mexico is wealthier than many parts of the US. And some of Mexico is very wealthy.

Most, but not all, of the mexican immigrants to the US are poor.

That does not mean there is any reason to be indignant. Every single one of us will leave one job to take another job that pays better. Most of us will move from one state to another or one city to another in search of better paying jobs.

Mexico is the nieghbor of a country that is wealthier and more powerful. It is no surprise that many people from a poorer country leave family and home to look for work in a richer country.

It may surprise you to know that the poorest among those and the ones who arrive illegally routinely pay far more money for the journey than any of us would traveling by air to other countries. A typical airline ticket for you or I, or someone coming here legally by plane from Mexico will cost about $600.

A typical illegal immigrant pays (an illegal) border smuggler about $3,000 for the crossing. That''s more money than many of us can afford for travel.

[myidoncbs]

Funny how the repugs are blaming Congress for the border problem. Don''t they know that Bush likes all them illegals? They provide the cheap labor that his business buddies all want.

BTW, they don''t risk their lives to come here just to get whatever they can "for free". Conditions in Mexico really are so bad that it seems worth risking their lives. And *that''s* just the way Bush wants to keep it!

[g17mtjag]

About 7 million US citizens live and work abroad in other countries.

Should they be required to give up their US citizenship and forced to become citizens of the country they live in, or returned to the US?

Millions more Americans in addition to that send their money (as opposed to their labor) to other countries, and enrich themselves with the return on those investments. Should that be restricted?

American investment in Mexico has forced millions of Mexican farmers out of business while making US agribusiness companies ADM and Monsanto richer.

Should the foreign operations of these American companies be limited?

Mexico has over the centuries including the 20th and 21st centuries absorbed immigrants from China, Korea, Germany, Britain, France, Russia, and other countries all over Asia, Europe, Africa, and North and South America.

The US is by no means the only country that both absorbs immigrants, and sends its own citizens out to work in other countries.

Consider that US citizens benefit from both legal and illegal emigration to many countries. It is necessary for each country including our own to develop immigration policies and laws that respect the economic, political, and security realities they face.

Our country faces a shortage of both skilled and unskilled labor and must continue to grow and develop. That some immigrants work for sub-standard wages should be addressed by US national wage standards that we enforce regardless of immigrant status.