http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=5005304&nav=HMO6

...to cut desert crosser deaths

June 8, 2006, 01:05 PM EDT

Touting what they say is a new cooperative effort with the Border Patrol, organizers of an illegal-immigrant aid group detailed plans Wednesday for a summer campaign to stem the numbers of illegal immigrants dying in the Arizona desert.

The Border Patrol and No More Deaths, a coalition of faith-based organizations, individuals and human rights advocates, have reached a handshake agreement to work to keep people trying to cross the border from perishing.

"This is something that we've had hours and hours of discussion about, and we welcome the Border Patrol as a partner in the efforts to work with humanitarians," said Margo Cowan, the coalition's legal adviser.

"We have seen a remarkable difference in the receptivity of the Border Patrol in our efforts to give food and water to those people who have been detained," said Shura Wallin, coordinator of the Green Valley-Sahuarita Samaritans, a member of the coalition.

What Wallin, Cowan and others described as an unprecedented positive relationship with the federal agency comes as two No More Deaths volunteers await trial in October on federal charges that they intentionally conspired to transport illegal aliens last summer.

Shanti Sells and Daniel Strauss were arrested as they drove illegal immigrants from the desert to get medical assistance from a clinic set up in a Tucson church.

The two are recruiting West Coast volunteers this summer.

"You can provide water for them (illegal immigrants), but the rules change when they try to put someone in a vehicle," said Chuy Rodriguez, a spokesman for the Border Patrol's Tucson sector.

Rodriguez said help will be dispatched for any phone call reporting that someone needs medical attention.

"We live in a corridor of death," Cowan said. "It's so, so important that we all put all of our energy, all of our creativity, all of our dedication, all of our ideas into this effort to try to save lives."

So far this fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, 88 people have died in the Tucson sector, according to the Border Patrol, compared to 100 during the same period a year ago. Another 19 deaths have been recorded in western Arizona's Yuma sector - four fewer than for the corresponding period in fiscal 2005.

Cowan put the death total at 99, including three children, 18 women and 78 men.