Desert Proves Fatal for Illegal Immigrants
U . S . - M E X I C A N B O R D E R, July 14, 2004 -- A crumbled border marker, a barbed wire fence, and a dusty trail to nowhere is all that separates the United States from Mexico along most of the 350-mile Arizona border in the middle of the Sonora Desert.
The border has become a deadly front line in the battle over immigration reform and the war against international terrorism.
Of late, many Mexicans are mistaking the proposed immigration reform bill for a total amnesty program for anyone who can get into the country before the bill passes.
If passed into law, the bill would provide illegal immigrants living in the United States a way to gain permanent legal residency, provide labor safeguards, and make it easier for immigrant families to reunite and stay together.
The Office of Homeland Security has directed $10 million to the Arizona Border Control Initiative to make it more difficult for illegal immigrants and possible terrorists to enter the country. Now many illegal aliens are forced to cross the unforgiving Arizona desert to avoid the stepped-up security measures at the traditional border crossings.
"It diverted the migration pattern into hazardous and deadly areas of the border for people to cross and the death toll has set a new record each year," said the Rev. John Fife, a local Presbyterian minister and immigration activist who mobilized the "No More Deaths" aid project in response to the crisis.
More than 150 people are believed to have died trying to cross the U.S.-Mexican border this year — 78 while attempting to cross the Arizona desert.
The Border Patrol and humanitarian groups believe there are many more whose bodies will never be found.
"As the militarization has increased, particularly in the Arizona Border Control Initiative this year, where they have added 100 more agents and more helicopters, people have been forced into even more isolated areas of the desert," said Fife. "So in a sense we've had a record number of deaths to date this year, and I anticipate we will set a new record this year."
