San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial

Death in the desert

Blame the smugglers, not the government

October 2, 2009

Thousands of migrants cross the border illegally between here and Texas every year, the overwhelming majority of them simply in search of a job and a slice of the American dream. That hundreds of them instead find death in the American desert is a humanitarian crisis, and it is unacceptable.

But to blame those deaths on the border-enforcement policies of the American or Mexican governments and on agencies such as the U.S. Border Patrol and its operations is nothing short of preposterous. This is a tragedy with villains, to be sure, but they are not the agents who risk their own lives along the border every day, nor the government policies they are enforcing.

A Union-Tribune report on Wednesday, citing Border Patrol figures, said there were 378 migrant deaths along the Southwest border in the 11 months ended Aug. 31 — a pace slightly greater than the previous two years, but lower than the record-death year of 492 in 2005.

A report formally released that same day by the American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial Counties and Mexico's National Commission on Human Rights said those deaths are the “inhumane outcomeâ€