Published: 11.07.2007
Border Patrol finds 204 bodies in 2007
CARLI BROSSEAU
Tucson Citizen
The Border Patrol found 204 illegal immigrants dead in the desert in southern Arizona during fiscal year 2007, a spokesman said. The fiscal year ended Oct. 1.
The number is up almost 21 percent from 2006, when there were 169, but it isn't the highest, Agent Richard DeWitt said. A total of 219 people found dead in fiscal 2005.
In 2004, the remains of 142 people were found, and137 were found in 2003, DeWitt said.
He said "2005 seemed to be the spike."
DeWitt would not comment on projected numbers or trends.
"There are too many factors," he said. "Weather, socioeconomic and political factors - it's hard to say."
According to the National Weather Service, last summer was one of the warmest on record in southern Arizona, with an average daily high of 99.7. The average high for 2005 was only slightly higher at 99.8. The figure for 2003 was higher still, 100.4.
The Border Patrol counts only dead illegal immigrants who carried identification showing they were from a foreign country or those for whom a friend or relative can be found, according to Citizen archives.
The Pima County Medical Examiner's Office, however, counts all bodies found dead in the desert, many of them near known smuggling routes, according to archives. Its tally is usually higher than the Border Patrol's.
As of Aug. 31, the count was 216, archives show. An up-to-date estimate was not immediately available.
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