Thread: Arizona law, heat don't stop Border Crossings

Arizona law, heat don't stop border crossings

12:00 AM CDT on Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Amanda Lee Myers and Julie Watson, The Associated Press

Caption under Picture: A group of illegal immigrants waits to be deported to Mexico from Nogales, Ariz. Border crossers say the chance to make money is worth the risks of death or capture.

NOGALES, Mexico – Hector Ortega stumbled across the body of a fellow migrant as he walked across Arizona's harsh desert in the searing summer heat. He tried not to look too closely.

With nothing to be done for the deceased, Ortega and the others trudged on, guided by a smuggler across the U.S. border, determined to complete their illegal odyssey even as they endured record-high temperatures and fever-pitch resentment.

"What can you do about it in the desert?" he asked.

Deaths of illegal immigrants in Arizona soared this summer toward their highest levels since 2005 – a fact that has surprised many who thought the furor over the state's new immigration law and the 100-plus degree heat would send them elsewhere along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border.

But at the Pima County morgue in Tucson, the body bags are stacked on stainless steel shelves from floor to ceiling.

In July, 59 people died – 40 in the first two weeks, when nighttime temperatures were the hottest in recorded history, hovering around the low 90s. The single-month death count is second only to July 2005, when 68 bodies were found.

Eighteen more people died in the first 23 days of August.

Even with the prospect of a torturous death and the bitter wrath they face in Arizona, immigrants, including Ortega, say the state's vast, sparsely populated terrain is still the best place for border jumpers.

"In Tijuana, you have two walls that you have to get over," said Ortega, 64, a farm laborer who first came across in 1976 to work in West Coast fields.

He admits he's afraid when he crosses but states flatly, "It's worth the risk."

After two days of traversing the desert, he and his group were caught by U.S. Border Patrol agents when they reached a freeway and their ride wasn't there.

Resting at a shelter for failed border crossers that sits atop a steep hill in Mexico overlooking the city of Nogales, Ortega expanded on his motives. "It's the only way to make a little money to support my family," he said.

Most of those who trickled into the shelter planned to try again, shrugging off Arizona's new law giving local authorities the power to arrest them, currently stayed by a federal court order. They are also unfazed by the Mexican government's warning to its citizens to avoid the state.

Sofia Gomez of an aid group called Humane Borders said crossers are traveling through even more remote areas than in previous years.

At the same time, anger over illegal immigration has led to people shooting up the water stations her group has placed in the desert.
"They're taking a higher risk and they're not making it," Gomez said.

So far this year, the death toll for crossers is 171, the same number the Pima County medical examiner's office had seen at this time in 2007, the year the office saw a record 217 deaths.

"We thought the political climate in Arizona would be a significant deterrent to people crossing, but as far as the deaths are concerned, they certainly have been what looks like is going to be the highest they've ever been," said Dr. Eric Peters at the morgue.

Amanda Lee Myers and Julie Watson,
The Associated Press


http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... 5c1f6.html

Do you all think it may help stave off Illegal Immigration if we started posting ads in foreign newspapers discouraging it?

I think ads in foreign papers would be cheap to buy and easy to translate of course.

Caption under Picture: A group of illegal immigrants waits to be deported to Mexico from Nogales, Ariz. Border crossers say the chance to make money is worth the risks of death or capture.

That's the mindset of a criminal who will do anything for money. But the article is wrong. The AZ immigration law will stop illegal immigration into Arizona.

More evidence building a double fence works and saves lives.

Build The Fence Now !!

Originally Posted by USPatriot

More evidence building a double fence works and saves lives.

Build The Fence Now !!

Absolutely. And then man it.

Originally Posted by PaulRevere9

Do you all think it may help stave off Illegal Immigration if we started posting ads in foreign newspapers discouraging it?

I think ads in foreign papers would be cheap to buy and easy to translate of course.

I think it would be worth a try. I'd be willing to contribute toward it. I wonder what the content of the ads should be? Should they say that IAs are unwanted? Should they say that it is dangerous to cross the border illegally? Should they say the the living conditions in the USA are bad? Of course, even more effective is to improve the local economy so that people don't want to emmigrate but that is often dependent upon political reform.

I can tell you the general wording of the PSAs that my organization sponsored along with several other activist groups.

"Please do not believe what some people might tell you -- the border crossing is dangerous, and even when you have crossed the line, ithere is still a great distance to travel. There are no natural permanent water sources and the seasonal water has salt and sulphur and is not safe to drink. Thousands of people have died attempting to make the crossing. [The end of the message had a contact name and phone number from Comision Nacional de los Derechos Humanos]

well your organization should not be placing water out for people.
that is aiding and abetting. and if its on federal land, ITS LITTERING.

we already know you love the illegals taking over the country. but you might be one of the only ones on here who likes it

added to home page

http://www.alipac.us/article-5635--0-0.html

WE DO NOT WANT ILLEGAL ALIENS. THE TROOPS MUST BE SENT. THIS NOVEMBER REMOVE FROM OFFICE ALL THE DEMOCRATS WHO SUPPORT ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION AND IN 2012 DO NOT VOTE FOR OBAMA. THEY SUPPORT ILLEGAL ALIENS. AMERICANS DO NOT. THIS ADMINISTRATION IS DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY WITH ILLEGAL ALIENS.