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Migrant deaths along the Mexico–United States border

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Psychohistorian (talk | contribs) at 19:16, 20 February 2007 (the issue of whether he killed the alien is covered elsewhere, -this- is about how he was charged - its additional information). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Border Patrol sign in California warning "Caution! Do not expose your life to the elements. It's not worth it!"

According to the U.S. Border Patrol, 1,954 people died crossing the United States-Mexico border between the years 1998-2004.[1] In the fiscal year ending September 29, 2004, 460 migrants died crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.[2] In 2005, more than 500 died across the entire U.S.-Mexico border.[2] The number of yearly border crossing deaths has doubled since 1995.[3]

The Mexican Ministry of Foreign Relations has compiled data that includes deaths on the Mexican side of the border area during the period from 1994 to 2000. Their data show 87 deaths in 1996, 149 in 1997, 329 in 1998, 358 in 1999 and 499 in 2000.[4]

Geographic distribution

  • Graphic showing the number of deaths in 2005 and 2006 for different areas along the border: [3].
  • List of the names of immigrants that have died along the border: [4]

Arizona

The Arizona Daily Star maintains a database of border deaths recorded by the Pima, Santa Cruz, Cochise and Yuma County medical examiners between summer 2004 to September 2006.[5] They stated that, "With no official record-keeping system, the exact number of illegal immigrants who have died along the Arizona border has never been known". The reasons and possible causes are numerous.[6]

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."[7]

Since the middle 1990s, Border Patrol police in the United States have been dealing with the deaths of illegal immigrants, particularly in the state of Arizona. The number of deaths of illegal immigrants along the United States-Mexico border has been increasing on a regular, yearly basis since the middle 1990s,[8] garnering the attention of news media and law enforcement alike.

Per summer 2006, tighter enforcement in Arizona has likely lead to fewer deaths there, but border wide fatalities were approaching the record pace of 2005.[9] [5]

Causes

The reasons and possible causes are numerous, ranging from accidental deaths and natural causes to intentional homicide.

Exposure

The United States-Mexico barrier was built to deter illegal immigration in areas with historically high numbers of illegal crossings. Now illegal immigrants try to cross the Sonoran Desert and the Baboquivari Mountain in Arizona. This has made exposure (including heat stroke, dehydration, and hypothermia) one of the leading causes of death.

Drowning

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

Accidents

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 migrants 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 Yuma sector 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." [6]

In January 2003, two immigrant passengers died when their truck crashed on Interstate 8 while fleeing the Border Patrol, after a spike strip punctured a tire.[7] A week after the accident, a third victim, Elvia Rumbo Leyva, died in the hospital [8].

Border patrol killings

In January 2007, a Border Patrol agent, whom the Border Patrol claimed believed his life was in jeopardy following a confrontation, shot and killed Francisco Javier Dominguez-Rivera, age 22.[9] Mexico lodged an official protest with the United States over this stating its “firm condemnation” and “serious concern over the recurrence of this type of incident.” The note demanded an exhaustive investigation.[10][11]. Though the incident was recorded by surveillance cameras, the recording was not very clear. [12] The FBI is investigating the incident,[13] and the Border Patrol agent has been put on administrative leave. The mother of the slain Mexican is seeking the death penalty for the law officer.[citation needed]

In January 2006, an eight year veteran of the Border Patrol, which an Border Patrol spokesman said believed his life to be in jeopardy, shot and killed Guillermo Martinez Rodriguez, age 20, with a single gunshot to the back of his right shoulder. Rodriguez died the next day. The law enforcement officer was fearful of stones which were being thrown at him.[14] [15]

Raul Martinez, who is not related to the man who died, said assaults on agents have increased "dramatically" in the area where the shooting took place, about a half-mile east of the San Ysidro Port of Entry.

Agents are routinely pelted with rocks, sticks, bottles and other objects that, if thrown at close range, can cause serious injury or death, Martinez said. Agents have to make split-second decisions to protect themselves.

"If I was put in the same shoes of this agent, that's exactly what we'd have to do. The possibility of a rock striking me or possibly killing me – it's unfortunate situations have to come to this point," the Border Patrol spokesman said. [16]

In May 2000, an undocumented immigrant was shot in the shoulder by a border patrolman near Brownsville, Texas, and died later from the wounds.[10]

On May 28, 1994, Martín García Martínez, age 30, 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.[11]

According to Rodolfo Acuña, a Chicano activist[17] and 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."[12]

Vigilante killings

In May 2005, a USA masked vigilante with an assault rifle and military fatigues attacked a group of 18 Mexican immigrants on the border near Columbus, New Mexico, killing Apolinar Ortega Sanchez[18].

At least two Mexicans have been killed and seven wounded by vigilante groups patrolling the arid badlands of Arizona's Cochise County to enforce border security and round up migrants.[13] Ranchers have expressed frustration at the crime, pollution, and vandalism that they (and other sources[14]) state migrants bring with them[15]. Barbara Coe, an anti-immigration lobyist from California, blames the vigilante behaviour on government apathy and calls these migrants "illegal immigrant savages".

In 2000, the United Nations opened an investigation into vigilante killings of migrants crossing Mexico's border with the USA. A senior UN investigator was dispatched to the border country close to where a 74-year-old rancher has been charged with killing Eusebio de Haro[16] , a Mexican he tried to subdue for law enforcement and accidentally killed when he fired a warning shot.[citation needed]

Intentional killings

It is often very difficult for the police to identify the suspects, because many groups might be involved. Authorities think that most of the more violent deaths were orchestrated by illegal immigrant smugglers, known as coyotes.

The coyotes, a term used to describe people who smuggle illegal immigrants into the United States for a profit, are infamous for the way in which they treat their clients, who are also often deemed as "human cargo." Cases of rape and beatings by coyotes have been reported by illegal immigrants who were smuggled into the United States by coyotes. The number of times this has happened is hard to ascertain since many illegal immigrants fear they would be deported if they went to the police for help, and because the coyotes often threaten to hurt family members that are still in their native countries.

On February 8, 2007, four gunmen of unknown nationality opened fire on a truck carrying undocumented immigrants in the Ironwood Forest National Monument, killing two men and a 15-year-old girl.[19] The incidence was covered on the front page of every major newspaper in Mexico City [20].

Due to the typically violent nature of some of the coyotes, they are common targets of finger pointing by law enforcement when bodies of murdered illegal immigrants have been found on the United States side of the border.

International consequences

The deaths have caused tension between the United States and other countries, particularly Mexico, from where a majority of illegal immigrants that enter the United States through the Southwestern borders come. General consulates across the Southwest United States, in particular those of Hispanic countries, have condemned the deaths of immigrants across the border.[21]

References

  1. ^ http://www.zreportage.com/DEADLY_CROSSING/DEADLY_CROSSING_TEXT.html, retrieved 17 January, 2007
  2. ^ PBS Frontline (June 27, 2006): U.S.-Mexico Border: The Season of Death
  3. ^ United States Government Accountability Office (August 2006). "GAO-06-770 Illegal Immigration: Border-Crossing Deaths Have Doubled Since 1995" (PDF). United States Government Accountability Office.
  4. ^ Wayne A. Cornelius (2001): Death at the Border: The Efficacy and “Unintended” Consequences of U.S. Immigration Control Policy 1993-2000. The Center for Comparative Immigration Studies University of California, San Diego.
  5. ^ Arizona Daily Star Border Death Database
  6. ^ http://regulus.azstarnet.com/borderdeaths/search.php, retrieved 14 May, 2006
  7. ^ Karl Eschbach, Jacqueline Hagan, Nestor Rodríguez (2003): Deaths during undocumented migration: trends and policy implications in the new era of homeland security. In In Defense of the Alien, Vol. 26, pp. 37-52.
  8. ^ Eschbach, K., J. Hagan and N. Rodriguez (2001): Causes and Trends in Migrant Deaths Along the U.S.-Mexico Border 1985-1998. Center for Immigration Research, University of Houston (Executive Summary).
  9. ^ San Diego Union-Tribune (July 22, 2006): Border deaths on record pace
  10. ^ UN envoy is sent to investigate Rio Grande shootings by posses of vigilante ranchers
  11. ^ Human Rights Watch (1995): Human Rights Abuses Along the U.S. Border with Mexico Persist Amid Climate of Impunity
  12. ^ Rodolfo Acuña: Murder in Arizona . . . It's Only The Third World La Prensa San Diego, Volume XXIV Number 24~ June 16, 2000
  13. ^ The Independent (May 20, 2000): Mexico asks UN for help to stop ranch 'posses' hunting migrants[1]
  14. ^ such as Time Magazine (Sept 12, 2004)and Public Lands Foundation
  15. ^ http://www.newsmax.com/articles/?a=2000/6/7/134757
  16. ^ The Independent (24 May 2000): UN envoy is sent to investigate Rio Grande shootings by posses of vigilante ranchers
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