http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=3374253

Maps to Discourage Illegal Immigrants Get Mixed Response

By J.D. Wallace, KOLD News 13 Reporter

posted 5/20/05



As desert temperatures rise, so does the pressure for Humane Borders to keep its water drums full and prevent migrant deaths.



"I hate this, but we refer to it as the season of death,� said Humane Borders vice president Paul Fuschini.



Humane Borders also aims to flood border towns with posters that show how far one, two, and three days' walk will take a migrant into Arizona.



"That area is 45 miles from the border. And that's a good three days walk. And when the weather gets hot, you need a good two to three gallons a day, and how you gonna do that? How do you carry 15 gallons of water? You can't do that,� Fuschini said.



But the same posters aimed to discourage migrants, even with warnings in Spanish to not go, that there isn't enough water, and that it's not worth it, concern the Border Patrol because the posters also show where water stations are.



"Not only does it give them a false sense of security, the smugglers are using it to their advantage. They are utilizing the fact that there are people out there with water to prey on the migrants,� said U.S. Border Patrol agent Andrea Zortman.



Zortman said that each of agent carries a gallon of water.



"So in essence, in the Tucson Sector we have 23-hundred roaming water stations. We know the terrain, we know where migrants are most likely to go, and we have the help of our helicopters also, all to mitigate this this year,� Zortman said.



Not one migrant death in the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector has been connected to heat yet this year. Both the Border Patrol and Humane Borders would like that to continue, even if they have different ideas of how it should be done.



"We have our agents out there to get to them in time to save and help them and give them water and help keep them alive,� Zortman said.



"So it's pretty simple for us. Our goal is to stop the deaths in the desert, so we do what we can,� Fuschini said.s