Thread: AZ:Desert deaths on the rise; more women than ever

Lorraine Rivera Reports
Desert deaths on the rise; more women than ever

July 26, 2007 09:17 PM EDT

There's been a spike in desert deaths, and it's not just men dying. The Pima County medical examiner's office is seeing the remains of more women than ever.

In just six months, 150 people have died in Pima County after illegally crossing the U.S./Mexican border. Of that number, nearly 40 are women, and that's a number no agency has seen before.

As of Thursday, 39 women have illegally entered Pima County and died.

"There's no way to describe it other than the way we do. It's a human rights crisis; I mean it really it is," said Kat Rodriguez coordinator for Derechos Humanos.

She collects data from medical examiners in Southern Arizona. It shows more women are crossing, and more are dying. "The majority of women that I've talked to are coming for family reunification, looking to put the family unit back together."

And there's a name, a story and a face to every one of those numbers. It's a puzzle being put together here at the Pima County medical examiner's office.

"This is the only part of her that was recovered." Dr. Bruce Anderson said one in three bodies that comes in to his office belongs to a female illegal immigrant.

"For whatever reason, more are dying in Pima County in the last couple of months than what we've seen in the last few years," he said.

Deputies found a skull in May from a woman with little information to go on. "We hope that with this increased number of women who have died this summer we hope that we can match them up to the dozen or so missing person reports that we have for missing women. "We hope to return the bodies to the families," Anderson said.

The medical examiner says the number of female deaths has increased every year. In 2005, 32 women died. And in 2006 that number went up 33 deaths and so far this year 39 have died. At this time last year, 24 had died.


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She collects data from medical examiners in Southern Arizona. It shows more women are crossing, and more are dying. "The majority of women that I've talked to are coming for family reunification, looking to put the family unit back together."

These women should get their families to return to their home and that way they wouldn't be making choices that have deadly consequences. Doesn't that make a lot more sense than perpetuating the breaking of American laws and risking death?

THOSE WOMEN ARE NOT COMING ACROSS THE DESSERT TO BE WITH FAMILY. THEY ARE COMING HERE TO TRY TO WORK. THEIR FAMILY COULD GO HOME AND THEN THEY COULD BE TOGETHER. I AM SO SICK OF THIS EXCUSE FOR COMING HERE. MANY TIMES WOMEN ARE LEAVING CHILDREN BEHIND IN MEXICO AND COMING HERE. IS THAT FAMILY REUNIFICATION? DONT THINK SO

If we build a serious Border Fence it will PREVENT people from wandering around and dying in our deserts. Just think, if even one life is saved it will be worth it!

Originally Posted by redpony353

THOSE WOMEN ARE NOT COMING ACROSS THE DESSERT TO BE WITH FAMILY. THEY ARE COMING HERE TO TRY TO WORK. THEIR FAMILY COULD GO HOME AND THEN THEY COULD BE TOGETHER. I AM SO SICK OF THIS EXCUSE FOR COMING HERE. MANY TIMES WOMEN ARE LEAVING CHILDREN BEHIND IN MEXICO AND COMING HERE. IS THAT FAMILY REUNIFICATION? DONT THINK SO

Or they are coming here to have more family, here.

camilleinchicago wrote:

If we build a serious Border Fence it will PREVENT people from wandering around and dying in our deserts. Just think, if even one life is saved it will be worth it!

I agree! Duncan Hunter's double-layered fence and more boots on the ground are needed now. IMO, the fence, added BP agents, and tougher employer sanctions are the three things that are needed most in this fight. All three will serve as an enhanced deterrent that will save lives by greatly reduce the influx of illegals. Additionally, American lives will be saved too!

I get so tired of hearing these people speaking in broad, general terms to put a positive light on illegals as they push their agenda.

When they talk about women crossing the border for "family reunification" what they're talking about is the number of women coming here looking for the boyfriends and husbands who've stopped calling, going home to visit, and stopped sending money because they're busy catting around and having kids over here with other women.

They ought to just start saying what they mean instead of trying to keep glossing things over in an effort to continue portraying illegals as people of the highest moral standard.

Don't they get it that no one is fooled by this?

If these people didn't have a chance at a job, they would not cross the desert.

Actually, I am not sure why they do anyway. There are bound to be more hospitable routes for them to take.

But, no jobs, they stay home. As long as they have the draw of jobs, and promise of welfare, they will continue to come.

Border-crossing deaths on rise
July 31, 2007

By William M. Welch, USA TODAY
The number of illegal immigrants who have died trying to get into the United States is higher than ever this summer, calling into question assertions that tougher border enforcement has cut the flow of people, say immigration groups.
A U.S. group that tries to reduce the number of illegal immigrants who die while trying to get across the border says an increase in such deaths this year suggests there has been no lessening in the flow of migrants. Robin Hoover, a pastor who runs Humane Borders out of Tucson, says people are skirting crossings where the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency has increased enforcement for more remote, deadly spots.

"They're pushing the migrants farther into the desert," says Hoover, whose group installs desert water stations and shelters.

Last weekend, five bodies were found in remote crossing areas near Tucson, bringing border deaths for the year to 155, said Bruce Parks, chief medical examiner for Pima County, which includes Tucson. That is a 22% increase over the 127 people found dead as of July 30 last year in that area.

The number found dead this year is 12% above the 138 people found dead during the same period in 2005, which was the deadliest year on record for border crossings in the Tucson region, Parks said.

The biggest cause of death is heat exposure, Parks said. Many other cases are listed as "cause unknown" because bodies are too badly decomposed when found. "Most … are probably heat as well," he said.

The Border Patrol has sent more agents and improved technology into Arizona in recent years in an attempt to block what is the busiest corridor for illegal immigration from Mexico.

Agent Jim Hawkins, Border Patrol spokesman in Tucson, said crossings appear to be down even if deaths are not. As of June 30, U.S. agents arrested 303,825 migrants in the Tucson area, down from 324,825 during the same period last year, he said.

"There's still obviously a heavy volume of traffic but not like it used to be," he said. "Typically when we see a decline in apprehensions it does mean the traffic is trying to go somewhere else."

Still, he says, "we are the heaviest sector in the United States, by far (for illegal crossings)."

Targeting its Tucson sector, the Border Patrol has added at least 300 agents, to 2,700, in the past year, he said.

Hoover says increased numbers of Border Patrol agents and the increased use of new intercept technology has not discouraged migrants. He says the reason arrests are down near Tucson is because people are taking the more difficult paths across the desert and mountains between Tucson and the Mexican border to avoid the beefed-up areas.

"The consequence of that has been an increased number of deaths," says Hoover, pastor of First Christian Church, Disciples of Christ, in Tucson.

Kat Rodriguez, coordinator of another Tucson group, Coalicion de Derechos Humanos, or Human Rights Coalition, says her group monitors border-crossing deaths and believes the true number is higher when nearby counties are included. "We're easily in the mid-180s," she said of the deaths. "They are definitely higher."

Rodriguez said most years see a lull in attempted border crossings during the hot summer months but that crossings appear to be continuing this year. She said no one is sure why but that economic factors are the main motivators for migrants from Mexico and other Latin American nations to the United States.

"There is no accurate way for us to know how many people are coming into the country," she said.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/200 ... htm?csp=34