http://azstarnet.com/allheadlines/112929

Entrant map shows roads, water tanks
Group says it can help save lives; critics call it an aid to illegal entry
By Lourdes Medrano
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
A Tucson human-rights group has teamed up with Mexico's Human Rights Commission to provide illegal border-crossers with maps that can guide them to water tanks, rescue beacons and roads.
The Rev. Robin Hoover, founder of Humane Borders, and commission officials Tuesday said they plan to distribute the maps to reduce the death toll of migrants, who, unaware of the dangers, trek across a searing desert each summer.
"It's designed to save lives," Hoover said of the effort in a telephone interview after announcing the plan in Mexico City. His organization places the water tanks in the desert for thirsty migrants.
Four maps have been prepared, each one centering on a different migration corridor along the Arizona-Sonora border including Douglas, Nogales, Sasabe and Lukeville. The maps show the locations where deaths have occurred and also show where Humane Borders water stations have been set up and Border Patrol rescue beacons have been installed. The maps also indicate how far would-be illegal entrants can expect to walk in one to three days.
Mauricio Farah, one of the commission's national inspectors, said about 70,000 maps will be distributed throughout Mexico starting in March.
The main objective of the poster-size maps is to warn migrants of the risks associated with crossing the desert, he said by telephone.
"The Arizona corridor has taken many lives," Farah said, adding that about 500 Mexicans died trying to cross the U.S.-Mexican border last year. "The map shows migrants that the trip is quite dangerous."
Some 217 illegal entrants died after crossing the border in Southern Arizona between Oct. 1, 2004, and Sept. 30, 2005, according to Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman Jose Garza.
Farah emphasized the maps are not intended to promote illegal immigration.
"The reasons and motivations for migration are deep and complex," he said. "They go far beyond the existence of this map."
But some critics say the map, much like a controversial comic-style guide that Mexico distributed last year, will serve only to push more migrants north.
Garza said the map could give border-crossers a false sense of security.
Knowing the location of water, roads and Border Patrol rescue beacons is no guarantee that migrants will find them, or that they will get out of the desert alive, Garza said.
"What we're trying to do is to deter people from crossing in the first place," he said, adding that those who smuggle people into the country through the desert also can misuse the map.
Jim Nixon, who belongs to Tucson's Arizonans for Immigration Control, said he had no doubt the map would encourage more border-crossers to make the trip.
"The map tells them where to go and where not to go," he said. "Humane Borders is aiding and abetting, there's no question in my mind."
Hoover said potential border-crossers from Mexico must be informed of the perils before they make up their minds to leave home.
The map is an improved version of a similar poster that was distributed in Sasabe as part of a pilot project last year, he said. Perhaps the map â€â€