http://www.krqe.com/expanded.asp?ID=11017

Illegal immigrants deaths increase
Source: AP


DEMING, N.M. -- The heat of the southern New Mexico desert is taking its toll on illegal immigrants crossing the border from Mexico.

Authorities say eleven people have died so far this year in the area around Deming. That's the most since the weather turned hot.

Among the latest deaths is a 32-year-old woman found in the desert east of Columbus on the last day of June. She died at Deming's hospital.

Two days later, a woman's body was found on a makeshift litter left near at an exit off Interstate Ten near Gage.

Most immigrants die from heat exhaustion.

The head of the US Border Patrol in Deming says the desert is very extreme and that smugglers really push people at fast paces.