Immigrant deaths along the U.S.-Mexico border
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
from Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
illegally. The number of deaths has steadily increased since the middle 1990s with exposure
Hypothermia
Hypothermia is a condition in which core temperature drops below the required temperature for normal metabolism and body functions which is defined as . Body temperature is usually maintained near a constant level of through biologic homeostasis or thermoregulation...
(including heat stroke
Hyperthermia
Hyperthermia is an elevated body temperature due to failed thermoregulation. Hyperthermia occurs when the body produces or absorbs more heat than it can dissipate...
, dehydration
Dehydration
In physiology and medicine, dehydration is defined as the excessive loss of body fluid. It is literally the removal of water from an object; however, in physiological terms, it entails a deficiency of fluid within an organism...
, and hyperthermia
Hyperthermia
Hyperthermia is an elevated body temperature due to failed thermoregulation. Hyperthermia occurs when the body produces or absorbs more heat than it can dissipate...
) being the leading cause.
According to the United States Border Patrol
United States Border Patrol
The United States Border Patrol is a federal law enforcement agency within U.S. Customs and Border Protection , a component of the Department of Homeland Security . It is an agency in the Department of Homeland Security that enforces laws and regulations for the admission of foreign-born persons to...
, 1,954 people died crossing the U.S–Mexico border between the years 1998-2004. In the fiscal year ending September 29, 2004, 460 migrants died crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. In 2005, more than 500 died across the entire U.S.-Mexico border. The number of yearly border crossing deaths has doubled since 1995. In 2009, 417 deaths were reported across the border. Yet the statistics cited by scholars and the media are only the number of known deaths and do not include those who have never been found, underestimating the actual number of migrants that have died attempting unauthorized border crossings.
Mexico's Secretariat of Foreign Affairs
Secretary of Foreign Affairs (Mexico)
In Mexico, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs is a member of the federal executive cabinet with responsibility for implementing the country's foreign policy. The secretary is appointed by the President of the Republic and heads the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs ...
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.
Geographic distribution
- Graphic showing the number of deaths in 2005 and 2006 for different areas along the border: http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060722/images/border.pdf.
Arizona
The Arizona Daily StarArizona Daily Star
The Arizona Daily Star is the major morning daily newspaper that serves Tucson and surrounding districts of southern Arizona in the United States. The paper was purchased by Pulitzer in 1971; Lee Enterprises bought Pulitzer in 2005....
maintains 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 that, "With no official record-keeping system, the exact number of illegal entrants
Illegal entry
Illegal entry is the act of foreign nationals arriving in or crossing the borders into a country in violation of its immigration law.Migrants from nations that do not have automatic visa agreements, or who would not otherwise qualify for a visa, often cross the borders illegally in some areas like...
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
A study by the Center for Immigration Research at the University of HoustonUniversity of Houston
The University of Houston is a state research university, and is the flagship institution of the University of Houston System. Founded in 1927, it is Texas's third-largest university with nearly 40,000 students. Its campus spans 667 acres in southeast Houston, and was known as University of...
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
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
. 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.
Drowning
A common cause of immigrant border deaths is drowning in canals, ditches, and the Rio GrandeRio Grande
The Rio Grande is a river that flows from southwestern Colorado in the United States to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way it forms part of the Mexico – United States border. Its length varies as its course changes...
.
Accidents
Significant numbers of illegal immigrants die in car accidentCar accident
A traffic collision, also known as a traffic accident, motor vehicle collision, motor vehicle accident, car accident, automobile accident, Road Traffic Collision or car crash, occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other stationary obstruction,...
s and other accidental causes. According to a December 2006 cover story in the San Diego Reader
San Diego Reader
The San Diego Reader is the largest alternative press paper in the county of San Diego, distributed free in stands and private businesses throughout the county, funded by advertisements...
, "...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 Yuma
Yuma, Arizona
Yuma is a city in and the county seat of Yuma County, Arizona, United States. It is located in the southwestern corner of the state, and the population of the city was 77,515 at the 2000 census, with a 2008 Census Bureau estimated population of 90,041....
sector when the driver of a Chevrolet Suburban
Chevrolet Suburban
Chevrolet offered a station wagon body, built on the 1/2 ton truck frame. This model was specifically built for National Guard units and Civilian Conservation Corps units. Much of the body was constructed from wood, and could seat up to eight occupants....
— 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
Interstate 8
Interstate 8 is an Interstate Highway in the southwestern United States. It runs from the southern edge of Mission Bay at Sunset Cliffs Blvd, in San Diego, California, almost at the Pacific Ocean, to the junction with Interstate 10, just southeast of Casa Grande, Arizona...
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
San Diego County, California
San Diego County is a large county located in the southwestern corner of the US state of California. Hence, San Diego County is also located in the southwestern corner of the 48 contiguous United States. Its county seat and largest city is San Diego. Its population was about 2,813,835 in the 2000...
freeways over a five-year span in the late eighties, prompting the creation of a highway safety sign to caution drivers about migrants crossing the road.
Incidents of Border Patrol use of force
According to Rodolfo AcuñaRodolfo Acuña
Rodolfo Francisco Acuña, Ph.D., is an historian, professor emeritus, and one of various scholars of Chicano studies, which he teaches at California State University, Northridge. He is the author of Occupied America: A History of Chicanos, which approaches the history of the Southwestern United...
, Professor Emeritus of Chicano Studies at California State University
California State University
The California State University is a public university system in the state of California. It is one of three public higher education systems in the state, the other two being the University of California system and the California Community College system. It is incorporated as The Trustees of the...
, "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."
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 wrong doing, 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.
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 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.
In May 2000, an illegal immigrant was shot in the shoulder by a border patrolman near Brownsville, Texas, and died later from the wounds.
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.
On May 2010, a recently deported Mexican migrant died after a Customs and Border Protection officer shocked him with a stun gun at the San Ysidro border crossing. "Methamphetamine abuse and hypertension contributed to the death of a 32-year-old Mexican who was shocked with a stun gun in a fight with federal agents at the San Ysidro border crossing, the county coroner’s office ruled."
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
Felipe Calderón
Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa is the current President of Mexico. He assumed office on December 1, 2006, and was elected for a single six-year term through 2012...
criticize the shooting by stating that "the use of firearms to repel attacks with stones represents disproportionate use of force".
Vigilante killings
According to Time MagazineTime (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, in the first half of 2000, three immigrants have been killed and seven others have been wounded in showdowns on the U.S. side of the border.
In 2000, the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
opened an investigation into vigilante killings of migrants crossing Mexico's border with the USA, 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
El Inmigrante
El Inmigrante is a 2005 documentary directed and written by brothers David and John Eckenrode along with John Sheedy, about immigrant deaths along the U.S.-Mexico border...
, an unarmed Mexican he tried to subdue for the border patrol and fatally shot in the back of the thigh after pursuing him a quarter mile down the road in his truck.
Intentional killings
On February 8, 2007, four gunmen of unknown nationality opened fire on a truck carrying illegal immigrants in the Ironwood Forest National MonumentIronwood Forest National Monument
Ironwood Forest National Monument is located in the Sonoran Desert and the U.S. state of Arizona. Created by Bill Clinton by Presidential Proclamation 7320 on June 9, 2000, the 129,022 acre monument is managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, an agency within the U.S. Department of the...
, killing two men and a 15-year-old girl. The incident was covered on the front page of every major newspaper in Mexico City .
International consequences
The deaths have caused tension between the United States and other countries, particularly Mexico and the countries of Central AmericaCentral America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
, 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 America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
n countries, have condemned the deaths of illegal immigrants across the border.
See also
- No More DeathsNo More DeathsNo More Deaths is an advocacy group based in Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona, USA that seeks to end the deaths of migrants crossing the desert regions near the United States-Mexico border...
- Centro Comunitario de Atencion al Migrante y Necesitado (CCAMYN)Centro Comunitario de Atencion al Migrante y Necesitado (CCAMYN)The Centro Comunitario de Atencion al Migrante y Necesitado is a free shelter for migrants in Altar, Sonora and is run by the local Our Lady of Guadalupe Church. The name means "Community Center for the Attention to the Migrants and Needy". The shelter is intended specifically for migrants who were...
External links
- Pulitzer Center Project on Dangers of Human Smuggling
- Unsafe Crossings Audio short on rape of immigrants
- Death at US-Mexico border reflects immigration tensions Guardian Co UK
- International Student Writing about Border Crossing Danger Glimpse.org
- Mexico's fury as U.S. border guard shoots dead boy, 14... for throwing stones at him. Dailymail.co.uk