Migrant deaths along the Mexico-U.S. border

Each year there are several hundred migrant deaths along the Mexico-U.S. border of those attempting to cross into the United States from Mexico without authorization from the Federal government of the United States. [United States Government Accounting Office. [http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06770.pdf GAO-06-770] , August 2006.] The number of deaths has steadily increased since the middle 1990s with exposure (including heat stroke, dehydration, and hypothermia) being the leading cause.Eschbach, K., J. Hagan and N. Rodriguez (2001): [http://web.archive.org/web/20070926034617/http://www.uh.edu/cir/Causes_and_Trends.pdf Causes and Trends in Migrant Deaths Along the U.S.-Mexico Border 1985-1998] . Center for Immigration Research, University of Houston ( [http://web.archive.org/web/20071120014953/http://www.uh.edu/cir/Executive_Summary.pdf Executive Summary] ).]

According to the US Border Patrol, 1,954 people died crossing the United States-Mexico border between the years 1998-2004. [cite news | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05E4DB163CF930A35752C1A9629C8B63 | title=Southwest: New Mexico: A Mass For Border Crossers | publisher=NY Times | date=November 3, 2004] In the fiscal year ending September 29, 2004, 460 migrants died crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. [Richard Marosi: [http://polisci.ucsd.edu/cornelius/latimes10-1-05.pdf Border Crossing Deaths Set a 12-Month Record] . Los Angeles Times, October 1, 2005.] In 2005, more than 500 died across the entire U.S.-Mexico border. [PBS Frontline (June 27, 2006): [http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/blog/2006/06/usmexico_border_1.html U.S.-Mexico Border: The Season of Death] ] The number of yearly border crossing deaths has doubled since 1995. [cite news
url=http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06770.pdf
title=GAO-06-770 Illegal Immigration: Border-Crossing Deaths Have Doubled Since 1995
author=United States Government Accountability Office
publisher=United States Government Accountability Office
date=August 2006
format=PDF] Yet the statistics cited by scholars and the media are merely the number of known deaths, and do not include those that have never been found, grossly underestimating the actual number of migrants that have died attempting unauthorized border crossings. [cite web | url=http://www.azdhs.gov/phs/borderhealth/pdf/newsletter2_3.pdf | title=Unauthorized Border Crosser Death along the Arizona/ Sonora border | publisher=Arizona Department of Health Services | date=2007-06 |format=PDF]

Mexico's Secretariat of Foreign Affairs has compiled data that includes deaths on the Mexican side of the border area during the period from 1994 to 2000. Their data show 87 deaths in 1996, 149 in 1997, 329 in 1998, 358 in 1999 and 499 in 2000. [Wayne A. Cornelius (2001): [http://www.ccis-ucsd.org/PUBLICATIONS/wrkg27.PDF Death at the Border: The Efficacy and “Unintended” Consequences of U.S. Immigration Control Policy 1993-2000] . The Center for Comparative Immigration Studies University of California, San Diego.]

Geographic distribution

*Graphic showing the number of deaths in 2005 and 2006 for different areas along the border: [http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060722/images/border.pdf] .

Arizona

The "Arizona Daily Star" maintains a database of border deaths recorded by the Pima, Santa Cruz, Cochise and Yuma County medical examiners between summer 2004 to September 2006. [Arizona Daily Star [http://regulus.azstarnet.com/borderdeaths/search.php Border Death Database] ] They stated that, "With no official record-keeping system, the exact number of illegal entrants who have died along the Arizona stretch of U.S.-Mexican border has never been known". [http://regulus.azstarnet.com/borderdeaths/search.php, retrieved 14 May, 2006]

The number of dead border crossing migrants per year in Arizona increased from nine in 1990 to 201 in 2005; About 80% of the dead migrants were under 40 during 2000-2005, with an increasing number younger than 18. [cite news | url=http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/021607dntexazdead.149bf0e.html# | title=Funnel effect blamed for leap in border deaths | author=Isabel C. Morales | publisher=Dallas Morning News | date=2007-02-15] [cite web | url=http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/images/File/brief/Crisis%20at%20the%20Border.pdf | title=A Humanitarian Crisis at the Border: New Estimates of Deaths Among Unauthorized Immigrants | author=Raquel Rubio-Goldsmith, M. Melissa McCormick, Daniel Martinez & Inez Magdalena Duarte | publisher=Immigration Policy Center | year=2007|format=PDF] [cite web | url=http://immigration.server263.com/images/File/brief/Full%20BMI%20Report.pdf | title=THE “FUNNEL EFFECT” & RECOVERED BODIES OF UNAUTHORIZED MIGRANTS PROCESSED BY THE PIMA COUNTY OFFICE OF THE MEDICAL EXAMINER, 1990-2005 | author=Raquel Rubio-Goldsmith, M. Melissa McCormick, Daniel Martinez, Inez Magdalena Duarte | publisher=Binational Migration Institute, Mexican American Studies & Research Center at the University of Arizona | date=2006-10 |format=PDF]

Trends

A study by the [http://www.uh.edu/cir/ Center for Immigration Research] at the University of Houston found that, "In the late 1980s, the number of foreign transient deaths usually exceeded 300, and peaked in 1988 at 355. Thereafter, the number of deaths fell to 180 in 1993 and 1994. After 1994 the number of deaths started to increase again, peaking in 2000 at 370. Border Patrol counts for 2001 and 2002 show a small decrease in the number of deaths in those years compared to 2000." [Karl Eschbach, Jacqueline Hagan, Nestor Rodríguez (2003): [http://www.uh.edu/cir/Deaths_during_migration.pdf Deaths during undocumented migration: trends and policy implications in the new era of homeland security] . In "In Defense of the Alien", Vol. 26, pp. 37-52.]

The number of deaths of illegal immigrants along the border has increased on a regular, yearly basis since the middle 1990s, particularly in the state of Arizona. As of summer 2006, tighter enforcement in Arizona has likely lead to fewer deaths there, but border wide fatalities were approaching the record pace of 2005. [San Diego Union-Tribune (July 22, 2006): [http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20060722-9999-1n22crossers.html Border deaths on record pace] ] [ [http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060722/images/border.pdf Apprehensions, Rescues, Deaths 2005-2006] . San Diego Union Tribune, July 27, 2006.]

Causes

The reasons and possible causes are numerous, ranging from accidental deaths and natural causes to intentional homicide.Fact|date=July 2008

Exposure

The United States-Mexico barrier was built to deter undocumented immigration in areas with historically high numbers of border crossingsFact|date=July 2008. As a consequence, undocumented immigrants have to cross the Sonoran Desert and the Baboquivari Mountain in Arizona. This has made exposure (including heat stroke, dehydration, and hypothermia) one of the leading causes of death.Fact|date=July 2008

Drowning

A common cause of immigrant border deaths is drowning in the canals, ditches and the Rio Grande.Citation|periodical=International Migration Review|publisher=The Center for Migration Studies of New York|last1=Eschbach|last2=Hagan|last3=Rodriguez|last4=Hernandez-Leon|last5=Bailey|first1=Karl|first2=Jacqueline|first3=Nestor|first4=Ruben|first5=Stanley|title=Death at the Border|volume=33|issue=2|year=1999]

Accidents

Significant numbers of illegal immigrants die in car accidents and other accidental causes. According to a December 2006 cover story in the "San Diego Reader," "...traffic fatalities involving migrants have more than doubled since 2003 as "coyotes," or "polleros" — the guides leading migrants across the border — try other methods. On August 7, nine migrants died in a crash in the Yuma sector when the driver of a Chevrolet Suburban — in which 21 Mexicans were "stacked like cordwood"citequote — lost control after crossing a Border Patrol spike strip at high speed. This year the number killed in traffic accidents during illegal crossings is about 50." [Stephen Dobyns. [http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2006/dec/07/border-angels/ Border Angels] . San Diego Reader, Dec 7, 2006.]

In January 2003, two illegal immigrant passengers died when their truck crashed on Interstate 8 while fleeing the Border Patrol, after a spike strip punctured a tire. [Cite news|url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20030115-9999_7m15chase.html|title= Fleeing truck driver pleads not guilty in deaths of two|date=2003-01-15|first=Alex|last=Roth|accessdate=2008-07-31|publisher=The San Diego Union-Tribune] A week after the accident, a third person, Elvia Rumbo Leyva, died in the hospital. [Cite news|url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20030717-9999_2m17smuggle.html|title=Woman says driver was prepared to die|date=2003-07-17|author=Soto, Onell R.|accessdate=2008-07-31|publisher=The San Diego Union-Tribune]

Close to one hundred undocumented pedestrian immigrants were struck and killed on San Diego county freeways over a five-year span in the late eighties, prompting the creation of a highway safety sign to caution drivers about migrants crossing the road. [Cite news|url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050410/news_1n10signs.html|title=Highway safety sign becomes running story on immigration|date=2005-04-10|first=Leslie|last=Berestein|accessdate=2008-07-31|publisher=The San Diego Union-Tribune]

Border Patrol killings

In January 2007, a Border Patrol agent shot and killed Francisco Javier Domínguez Rivera, age 22. [Cite news|url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,243891,00.html|title=FBI to Investigate Shooting Death of Mexican Immigrant by Border Patrol in U.S.|publisher=Fox News Channel|date=2007-01-16|accessdate=2008-07-31] Mexico lodged an official protest with the United States over this stating its “firm condemnation” and “serious concern over the recurrence of this type of incident.” The note demanded an exhaustive investigation. [Cite news|url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/20070116-1941-mexico-usa-.html|title=Mexico protests death of illegal immigrant in U.S.|date=2007-01-16|publisher=The San Diego Union-Tribune] [Cite news|http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/20070122-1526-mexico-migrantkilled.html|title=Relatives bury Mexican migrant shot by Border Patrol in Arizona|date=2007-01-22|accessdate=2008-07-31|publisher=The San Diego Union-Tribune] Though the incident was recorded by surveillance cameras, the recording was not very clear. [Cite news|title=Border Patrol video camera recorded immigrant's shooting|url=http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/local/39205.php|date=2007-01-19|accessdate=2008-07-31|publisher=Tucson Citizen] The FBI is investigating the incident, [Cite news|title=FBI Probes Shooting Of Mexican Immigrant|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/15/national/main2359940.shtml|date=2007-01-15|accessdate=2008-07-31|publisher=CBS News] and the Border Patrol agent has been put on administrative leave.

In January 2006, an eight year veteran of the Border Patrol, who a Border Patrol spokesman said believed his life to be in jeopardy, shot and killed Guillermo Martínez Rodríguez, age 20, with a single gunshot to the back of his right shoulder. Rodriguez died the next day. The law enforcement officer was fearful of stones which were being thrown at him. [Cite news|title=Border Shooting Death Raises U.S.-Mexico Tensions|url=http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5168712|date=2006-01-23|work=All Things Considered|publisher=NPR|accessdate=2008-07-31|first=Carrie|last=Kahn] [dead link|url=http://www.embassyofmexico.org/eng/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=160&Itemid=2|date=June 2008]

Raúl Martínez, who is not related to the man who died, said assaults on agents have increased "dramatically" in the area where the shooting took place, about a half-mile east of the San Ysidro Port of Entry. Agents are routinely pelted with rocks, sticks, bottles and other objects that, if thrown at close range, can cause serious injury or death, Martínez said. Agents have to make split-second decisions to protect themselves. "If I was put in the same shoes of this agent, that's exactly what we'd have to do. The possibility of a rock striking me or possibly killing me — it's unfortunate situations have to come to this point," the Border Patrol spokesman said. [Cite news|url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060103/news_1m3shooting.html|title=Shooting condemned by Mexico|date=2006-01-03|accessdate=2008-07-31|first=Kelly|last=Thornton|publisher=The San Diego Union-Tribune] . As a case in point, a border control officer was killed on Jan 20, 2008 in Imperial Sand Dunes in California after being run over by smugglers' Hummer vehicle while trying to lay spike strips.

In May 2000, an illegal immigrant was shot in the shoulder by a border patrolman near Brownsville, Texas, and died later from the wounds. [Cite news|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/un-envoy-is-sent-to-investigate-rio-grande-shootings-by-posses-of-vigilante-ranchers-716094.html|title=UN envoy is sent to investigate Rio Grande shootings by posses of vigilante ranchers|author=McGirk, Jan|coauthors=Gumbel, Andrew|date=2000-05-24|accessdate=2008-07-31|publisher=The Independent]

On May 28, 1994, Martín García Martínez, age 30, was shot by a Border Patrol agent at the San Ysidro port of entry. He died on July 3 as a result of his injuries. [Human Rights Watch (1995): [http://www.hrw.org/reports/1995/Us1.htm Human Rights Abuses Along the U.S. Border with Mexico Persist Amid Climate of Impunity] ]

According to Rodolfo Acuña, a Chicano activist [Cite news|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20060424152630/http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ideas_opinions/story/411102p-347789c.html|title=A day without immigrants? Yes|date=2006-04-23|accessdate=2008-07-31|author=Acuna, Rodolfo F.|publisher=Daily News (New York)] and Professor Emeritus of Chicano Studies at California State University, "Mexico's Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported 117 cases of human rights abuses by US officials against migrants from 1988 to 1990, including fourteen deaths. During the 1980s, Border Patrol agents shot dozens of people, killing eleven and permanently disabling ten."Rodolfo Acuña: [http://www.laprensa-sandiego.org/archieve/june16/analysis.htm Murder in Arizona . . . It's Only The Third World] [http://www.laprensa-sandiego.org/ La Prensa San Diego] , [http://www.laprensa-sandiego.org/archieve/june16/000616.html Volume XXIV Number 24~ June 16, 2000] ] In contrast to Acuña allegations, Mark Stevenson of the Associated Press reports that:

"Undocumented Central American migrants complain much more about how they are treated by Mexican officials than about authorities on the U.S. side of the border, where migrants may resent being caught but often praise the professionalism of the agents scouring the desert for their trail." [Cite news|title=Few Protections for Migrants to Mexico|work=Associated Press|date=2006-04-19|publisher=The Miami Herald|accessdate=2008-07-31|url=http://www.hemisferio.org/al-eeuu/boletines/01/19/mig_06.pdf]

Indeed, According to Jose Luis Soberanes, president of the CNDH (National Commission of Human Rights): "the Mexican government mistreats ‘indocumentados’ that cross its territory, it keeps them in jails, in overcrowded conditions, many times without food, without medical attention and overall, violating their human rights."

Vigilante killings

According to Time Magazine, in the first half of 2000, three immigrants have been killed and seven others have been wounded in showdowns on the U.S. side of the border. [Time McGirk: [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,997279,00.html Border Clash] . Time Magazine, June 26, 2000.] [The Independent (May 20, 2000): [http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article276502.ece Mexico asks UN for help to stop ranch 'posses' hunting migrants] [http://www.commondreams.org/headlines/052000-02.htm] ] In 2000, the United Nations opened an investigation into vigilante killings of migrants crossing Mexico's border with the USA, dispatching a senior UN investigator to the border country close to where Sam Blackwood, a 74-year-old rancher, was charged with killing Eusebio de Haro, [The Independent (24 May 2000): [http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article276503.ece UN envoy is sent to investigate Rio Grande shootings by posses of vigilante ranchers] ] an unarmed Mexican he tried to subdue for the border patrol and fatally shot in the back of the thigh after pursuing him a quarter mile down the road in his truck. [John Gonzalez. [http://search.chron.com/chronicle/openDocument.do?docRef=archive_2001_3329174&selectedPath=Archives Rancher Convicted in Immigrant's Death] . Houston Chronicle (Reuters), August 25, 2001. [http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/0825-01.htm Alternative source] .] [Pauline Arrillaga: [http://www.seacoastonline.com/2000news/8_20_w1.htm Border war] . Associated Press. August 20, 2000]

Intentional killings

It is often very difficult for the police to identify the suspects, because many groups might be involved. Authorities think that most of the more violent deaths were orchestrated by illegal immigrant smugglers, known as "coyotes"Fact|date=August 2008.

The "coyotes", a term used to describe people who smuggle illegal immigrants into the United States for profit, are infamous for the way in which they treat their clients, who are also often deemed as "human cargo." Cases of rape and beatings by "coyotes" have been reported by illegal immigrants who were smuggled into the United States by "coyotes". The number of times this has happened is hard to ascertain since many illegal immigrants fear they would be deported if they went to the police for help, and because the "coyotes" often threaten to hurt family members that are still in their native countries.

On February 8, 2007, four gunmen of unknown nationality opened fire on a truck carrying illegal immigrants in the Ironwood Forest National Monument, killing two men and a 15-year-old girl.Cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/09/us/09immig.html|title=Illegal Immigrants Slain in an Attack in Arizona|work=New York Times|date=2007-02-09|accessdate=2008-07-31|author=Archibold, Randal C.] The incident was covered on the front page of every major newspaper in Mexico City Deadlink|url=http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0210napolitanofolo0210.html|date=July 2008|date=August 2008.

International consequences

The deaths have caused tension between the United States and other countries, particularly Mexico and the countries of Central America, from where a majority of illegal immigrants that enter the United States through the Southwestern borders come. Foreign consulates across the Southwest United States, in particular those of Latin American countries, have condemned the deaths of illegal immigrants across the border. [Cite web|url=http://www.sre.gob.mx/english/events/guillermo_case.htm|title=Follow-up to the Guillermo Martínez Rodríguez case|date=2006-01-05|accessdate=2008-07-31|publisher=Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores - México]

ee also

*No More Deaths

External links

* [http://www.commonlanguageproject.net/?page_id=99 Unsafe Crossings] Audio short on rape of immigrants
* [http://www.matiasfilm.com Matias] Documentary film about the death of a Mexican Migrant
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/04/usa.mexico Death at US-Mexico border reflects immigration tensions] Guardian Co UK

References