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Article: Migrant Deaths Among the Mexico-United States Border - To do list

Even though the article provides some important information about the matter and is fairly organised, some of the facts offered are not up to date and some fairly important information is still missing.

• It is important to update the reader on the current events. Since data is available, it should be shown to the reader the latest facts about this subject.
• What's done with the victims after they die and how to indetify them.
• The concern that exists with future plans to deal with this situation.
• The opinion of experts who offer ides to reduce the number of deaths along the Mexico-United States border.

Migrant deaths along the Mexico–United States border

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Border Patrol sign in California warning "Caution! Do not expose your life to the elements. It's not worth it!" Migrant deaths along the Mexico–U.S. border occur hundreds of times a year because of those attempting to cross into the United States from Mexicoillegally. The US Border Patrol reported 294 migrant deaths in the fiscal year 2017 (ending September 30, 2017), which was lower than in 2016 (322), and any year during the period 2003-2014. The highest number of deaths reported over the period 1998-2016 were the 492 deaths reported by the Border Patrol in 2005. Exposure (including heat stroke, dehydration, and hyperthermia) were the leading cause.

The group Border Angels estimates that since 1994, about 10,000 people have died in their attempt to cross the increasingly militarized border. According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 7,216 people have died crossing the U.S–Mexico border between 1998 and 2017. In 2005, more than 500 died across the entire U.S.–Mexico border. The number of yearly border crossing deaths doubled from 1995 to 2005, before declining. The statistics reflect only known deaths and do not include those who have never been found.

Mexico's Secretariat of Foreign Affairs has compiled data including deaths on the Mexican side of the border area during the period from 1994 to 2000. The data shows 87 deaths in 1996, 149 in 1997, 329 in 1998, 358 in 1999, and 499 in 2000.

U.S. Border Patrol reported that 3,221 migrants were rescued in the fiscal year 2017.

Contents

 [hide]

• 1Arizona
• 2Trends
  • 2.1Exposure
  • 2.2Drowning
  • 2.3Accidents
  • 2.4Incidents of Border Patrol use of force
  • 2.5Vigilante killings
  • 2.6Intentional killings
• 3Impact on border communities
• 4International consequences
• 5See also
• 6References
• 7External links

Arizona[edit]

The Arizona Daily Star maintained a database of border deaths recorded by the Pima, Santa Cruz, Cochise, and Yuma County medical examiners between summer 2004 and September 2006.They stated, "With no official record-keeping system, the exact number of illegal entrants who have died along the Arizona stretch of U.S-Mexican border has never been known".

The number of dead border crossing migrants per year in Arizona increased from nine in 1990 to 201 in 2005; about 80% of the dead migrants were under 40 during 2000–2005, with an increasing number younger than 18.

Trends[edit]

Mexico–United States barrier at the border of Tijuana, Mexico and San Diego, USA. The crosses represent migrants who have died in crossing attempts. Some who are identified, some not. Surveillance tower in the background.

A study by the Center for Immigration Research at the University of Houston found that, "In the late 1980s, the number of foreign transient deaths usually exceeded 300, and peaked in 1988 at 355. Thereafter, the number of deaths fell to 180 in 1993 and 1994. After 1994 the number of deaths started to increase again, peaking in 2000 at 370. Border Patrol counts for 2001 and 2002 show a small decrease in the number of deaths in those years compared to 2000."

The number of deaths of illegal immigrants along the border has increased on a regular, yearly basis since the middle 1990s, particularly in the state of Arizona. As of summer 2006, tighter enforcement in Arizona has likely lead to fewer deaths there, but border wide fatalities were approaching the record pace of 2005.

In 2012, the United States Border Patrol found the remains of 463 migrants in the U.S., of which 177 were discovered along the section of the border near Tucson, Arizona. The Rio Grande Valley of South Texas reported 150 migrant remains found, a jump from 2011 due to the increased numbers of Central American migrants.

Exposure[edit]

Hyperthermia is one of the most common causes of migrant border deaths.

Drowning[edit]

A common cause of immigrant border deaths is drowning in canals, ditches, and the Rio Grande.

Accidents[edit]

Significant numbers of illegal immigrants die in car accidents and other accidental causes. According to a December 2006 cover story in the San Diego Reader, "...traffic fatalities involving immigrants have more than doubled since 2003 as coyotes, or polleros – the guides leading migrants across the border – try other methods. On August 7, nine migrants died in a crash in the Yumasector when the driver of a Chevrolet Suburban – in which 21 Mexicans were "stacked like cordwood – lost control after crossing a Border Patrol spike strip at high speed. This year the number killed in traffic accidents during illegal crossings is about 50."

In January 2003, two illegal immigrant passengers died when their truck crashed on Interstate 8 while fleeing the Border Patrol, after a spike strip punctured a tire. A week after the accident, a third person, Elvia Rumbo Leyva, died in the hospital.

Close to one hundred illegal immigrants were struck and killed on San Diego County freeways over a five-year span in the late 1980s, prompting the creation of a highway safety sign to caution drivers about migrants crossing the road.

Incidents of Border Patrol use of force[edit]

According to Rodolfo Acuña, Professor Emeritus of Chicano Studies at California State University, "Mexico's Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported 117 cases of human rights abuses by US officials against migrants from 1988 to 1990, including fourteen deaths. During the 1980s, Border Patrol agents shot dozens of people, killing eleven and permanently disabling ten."

On May 28, 1994, Martín García Martínez was shot by a Border Patrol agent at the San Ysidro port of entry. He died on July 3 as a result of his injuries.

In May 2000, an illegal immigrant was shot in the shoulder by a border patrolman near Brownsville, Texas, and died later from the wounds.

In January 2006, an eight-year veteran of the Border Patrol, fearful of stones which were being thrown at him  shot Guillermo Martinez Rodriguez, a known people smuggler who had been detained 11 times prior. Rodriguez, with a gunshot to the back of his right shoulder, crossed back to Mexico and was taken to the Red Cross in Tijuana where he died twenty-five and a half hours later from the injury. Under the Border Patrol's use-of-force guidelines, agents are permitted to employ lethal force against rock throwers if they pose a threat. Large rocks have seriously injured many agents and many agents have resorted to wearing riot gear as a result.

In January 2007, border patrol agent Nicholas Corbett shot and killed Francisco Javier Domínguez Rivera. after the latter tried to smash his head with a rock according to the officer's lawyer.After the agent was acquitted of wrongdoing, a civil suit was filed on behalf of Rivera's parents. This civil suit claimed that the United States government was responsible for wrongful death of Rivera due to the fact that the agent was performing his official duty. Mexico lodged an official protest with the United States over the death stating its “firm condemnation” and “serious concern over the recurrence of this type of incident.” The protest demanded an exhaustive investigation. Though the incident was recorded by surveillance cameras, the recording was not very clear.

On May 28, 2010, Anastasio Rojas, a 42-year-old Mexican migrant worker, was tased and beaten at the San Ysidro border crossing by more than a dozen Customs and Border Protection officers. Rojas' death was featured on the PBS News Magazine "Need to Know" in April 2012, in which several civilian eyewitnesses gave their testimony and provided two amateur videos of the event. According to the witnesses, he was facedown on the ground and handcuffed while he was being tased and beaten, all the while being surrounded by twelve officers. His pleas for help is clearly audible on the amateur footage. In the hours before Rojas' death, he had tried to file a complaint against a Border Patrol officer for kicking his injured ankle, that officer and another officer would later drive Rojas to the border alone at night, soon after Rojas sustained fatal injuries. Since the initial broadcast of "Need to Know", 16 members of congress have demanded a justice department investigation into Anastasio Rojas' death while in Border Patrol's custody, which is currently under way. He leaves behind a wife and five children.

On June 2010, a 15-year-old Mexican citizen was shot to death on the Mexican side of the border near El Paso, Texas. The U.S. Border Patrol reported that the officers responded to a group of suspected illegal immigrants who were throwing rocks at them. President Felipe Calderón criticized the shooting by stating that "the use of firearms to repel attacks with stones represents disproportionate use of force".

Vigilante killings[edit]

According to Time Magazine, in the first half of 2000, three immigrants were killed and seven others wounded in showdowns on the U.S. side of the border.

In 2000, the United Nations opened an investigation into vigilante killings of migrants crossing Mexico's border with the U.S., dispatching a senior UN investigator to the border country close to where Sam Blackwood, a 74-year-old rancher, was charged with killing Eusebio de Haro, an unarmed Mexican he tried to subdue for the border patrol and fatally shot in the back of the thigh^{[clarification needed]} after pursuing him a quarter mile down the road in his truck.

Intentional killings[edit]

On February 8, 2007, four gunmen of unknown nationality opened fire on a truck carrying illegal immigrants in the Ironwood Forest National Monument, killing two men and a 15-year-old girl.

Impact on border communities[edit]

The impact of migrant deaths on border communities can be difficult for small towns on the U.S. side, which have found themselves with hundreds of remains to identify and bury, at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars. In November 2013, the Office of the Medical Examiner in Pima County, Arizona, had 871 cases of unidentified remains dating as far back as the 1990s.Relief groups often aid migrants traveling along the border. A Mexican federal task force known as Grupos Betas protects migrants from crime while the migrants make the journey north. Other groups such as 'No More Deaths' provide migrants with humanitarian assistance and members participate in 'desert runs' to search for migrants in need of help.

International consequences[edit]

The deaths have caused tension between the United States and other countries, particularly Mexico and the countries of Central America,^{[citation needed]} from where a majority of illegal immigrants that enter the United States through the Southwestern borders come. Foreign consulates across the Southwest United States, in particular those of Latin American countries, have condemned the deaths of illegal immigrants across the border.

Numbers That Reflect the Current Situation

A monument dedicated to those who have died trying to cross the border

According to a report by the United Nations migration agency, during the year of 2017 the number of arrested migrants who tried to cross the border in order to enter American territory from Mexico decreased from 611,689 in 2016 to 341,084 in 2017. That is a decrease of 44% in one year alone. However, the number of recorded deaths along the US-Mexico border increased from 151 in 2016 to 191 in 2017. In addition, as reported by the UN agency, the harsh conditions of the environment, plus the difficulty of providing the necessary care to those in need are the main factors that have contributed to the increase of number of deaths in this region. Moreover, most of these deaths are only recorder on the US side of the border, since deaths recorded on Mexican territory are only made public a few weeks after the tragedies happened.

Identifying Dead Migrants

Art students from the New York Academy of Art have offered their skills to help identify dozens of unidentified dead migrants who tried to cross the border in the state of Arizona. The main goal of this activity is to help families identify and claim the rests of those who have passed away in the region by looking at sculptures made by the art students. The young individuals fully cooperated with the coroner’s office in Pima County, Arizona. According to the school’s director of continuing education John Volk, migrants who try to cross the border are often exposed to extreme heat which often results in their death. As people find their skulls, identification is mostly impossible without DNA analysis, or dental records. Therefore, the art students try to reconstruct the victims in order to help families identify them. The scholars use 3D images of the skulls, and other known facts abut the person’s physical characteristics in order to successfully reconstruct an accurate representation of the deceased individuals. Today, the sculptures are on display at the New York’s academy of Art’s, and photos of the faces can be found online.

The Consequences of Building a Wall

Current president of the United States Donald Trump has continuously publicised the initiative of building a wall between American and Mexican territory in order to slow down the influx of illegal immigrants into US territory. However, according to US-Mexico border affairs analyst Christopher Wilson the president’s plan would most likely increase the death toll in the region. As the analyst stated, when security is increased, migrants tend to choose other paths that are less guarded, but even more dangerous. He added that migrants would only be slowed down by the wall, but quickly would find ways to cross it. Today, about one third of the entire Mexico-US border is already under heavy surveillance and divided by a wall or a fence, nonetheless US Border Patrol agents still arrest thousands of people every year.

Insufficient Security Measures

Despite the astronomical amounts of money expended in border security through the years by the United States, migrants tend to find diverse ways of entering the American territory and expose themselves into dangerous environments. For instance, migrants are able to constantly probe for a weak point in the primary fence. It can also be cut through, or climbed over fairly easy.It has been claimed on many occasions by various politicians that building a wall would improve the security of the border, however other experts have stated for years that building a wall would not be a longterm solution to the situation. Instead, they have stated that there should be other solutions that should tackle the very source of the problem, for instance, an improvement of the Mexican economy might change the current state of things since many Mexican citizens consider go to the United States illegally when they compare the real wage in Mexico and the real wage in the United states

When an undocumented migrant tries to cross the border, that individual will most likely confront many dangers like crossing the Rio Grange, traveling in compact sealed vehicles, walking through parched terrains and climbing fences and other steel barriers which often results in fatal consequences.