Deaths in desert down so far this year
Deaths in desert down so far this year
Fewer border crossers found; agencies cite a cooler May, more enforcement
By Brady McCombs
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 06.19.2008
The number of illegal immigrants dying in Arizona's desert appears to have significantly decreased so far this year — no matter who's counting.
Tallies from the U.S. Border Patrol, county medical examiner's offices and the Mexican Consulate show declines in deaths that range between 21 percent and 35 percent lower than the previous year. Each organization tracks the deaths slightly differently.
Some say the lower number is a sign that fewer people are crossing through Arizona, perhaps as a result of more enforcement at the border, the threat of jail time in the Border Patrol's zero-tolerance program, the state's new employer-sanctions law and the downturn in the U.S. economy.
Others say it's more likely because of cooler weather, or because smugglers have shifted routes.
But with the rest of June and the hottest, and deadliest, month of July still to come, the numbers could spike to match the totals of past years.
"Here we are talking about this, and the temperature today is 109," said Rob Daniels, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman. "We are cautiously optimistic because we are far from being done with summer."
"I am operating on the assumption that we are going to break 200 (deaths) again this fiscal year," said Kat Rodriguez, coordinating organizer for Coalición de Derechos Humanos, a Tucson-based immigrants' rights group that tracks the deaths. "I hate saying that, but I think it's the truth."
Since fiscal year 2000, when border deaths spiked to alarming levels in Arizona, the Border Patrol has recovered 1,230 bodies in the Tucson Sector. Since Oct. 1, 2003 — when the Arizona Daily Star created a database to track border deaths recorded by the Pima, Santa Cruz, Cochise and Yuma county coroners — more than 1,000 bodies have been recovered in those areas.
Numbers down for all organizations
Each organization's border death numbers show a downturn from last year and one of the slowest paces in the past five years.
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