Thread: D.C. Dawdles As Immigrants Die In Dessert (Opinion)

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/index.php? ... 05b4_edits
Friday, May 27, 2005

Our Opinion: D.C. dawdles as immigrants die in desert
Tucson Citizen

The 2005 "season of death" has begun right on schedule along the Arizona-Mexico border.
As the bodies of illegal immigrants are found in the parched desert, a substantive debate over immigration reform still has not begun. Comprehensive reform is the only way this annual slaughter can be stopped.

Members of Congress should be outraged or ashamed. Instead, they are blasé.

To those of us who live in southern Arizona, the headlines of late May are predictable: "Illegal immigrant death wave following desert's heat wave" the Tucson Citizen reported this week.

Within the past week, the bodies of at least 12 illegal immigrant suspects have been found in the Arizona desert during record-breaking heat. There likely are more bodies undiscovered.

The stories behind those bodies are heartbreaking: One person was only 15; a 24-year-old pregnant woman died as her husband desperately searched for help; a man who had sought shelter from the sun in an abandoned house died two weeks before his body was found.

Dozens more would have died without the rescue efforts of U.S. Border Patrol agents and volunteer humanitarians.

So what is being done to stop this carnage? Volunteers are putting water in the desert to help unsuspecting people who have no idea what they are getting into. The same volunteers are passing out maps at the border, warning immigrants of the heat, dangers and distance they face.

And the Legislature is passing bills declaring English the official language of Arizona and denying illegal immigrants access to English classes.

Michael Nicley, Tucson sector chief for the Border Patrol, said more agents eventually will stop people from entering the United States illegally - an unrealistically optimistic prediction.

In the past, more resources have only shifted the problem - now to the desert where death is far more likely. Short of stationing agents within sight of each other along the 350-mile Arizona-Mexico border, illegal crossings cannot be stopped.

The only solution is comprehensive immigration reform such as that proposed in bipartisan legislation introduced by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and other members of the Senate and House.

President Bush remains regrettably absent from this debate. Before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Bush was interested in immigration reform. Since then, he has been virtually silent. Yet reform would be one of the best ways to make this nation more secure.

Last year, at least 221 people died in Arizona trying to enter the United States illegally. This year, we already are ahead of that sorrowful pace.

How many more "seasons of death" is Congress willing to accept before it acts?

Has anybody noticed how the MEX GOV'T is always conviently being ignored as to their lack of RESPONSIBILITY in keeping their citizens alive?

Originally Posted by 2ndamendsis

Has anybody noticed how the MEX GOV'T is always conviently being ignored as to their lack of RESPONSIBILITY in keeping their citizens alive?

You are absolutely right! Where in the hell is Mexico? Do they not care about their own citizens dieing all over the desert? Where is Fox who says "fences don't make good neighbors"? Doesn't he even have the decency to at least ACT like he gives a damn? He sure was there to encourage them to flee over the border with his government printed coloring book! So he basicallly gave his own people the 'instructions on how to die while crossing the border'.

Where is Fox who says "fences don't make good neighbors"? Doesn't he even have the decency to at least ACT like he gives a damn?

Dear BB............we all know that his only concern is..............
MONEY>>>>>AMERICAN MONEY!!

MASSIVE TAX STRIKE!

I guess a person trying to cross a hot desert has zero responsibility with their own fate. It always has to be someone elses fault.

Lord Forbid people use their common sense.