And It Begins: 3 Crossers Die In Desert

Michael Marizco, Arizona Daily Star, Mar. 31

The bodies of three men found in the desert last week mark an early beginning to a grim tally—heat-related deaths of illegal border crossers.

The men all died on the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation over the course of the week, said Rob Griffin, a spokesman for the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector.

The first to die was 30 to 35 years old. He was found near the village of Gu Vo on March 21 by a Border Patrol rescue agent who had tracked him down and tried to administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

The second death was of a 25—to 30-year-old man found March 23 near the village of Topawa. The third was of a 20—to 25-year-old man found west of Sells Thursday. None of the men was identified, but all are believed to have been illegal entrants.

Since the October start of the current fiscal year, 19 illegal entrants are known to have died in the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector. The official toll for fiscal 2002-03 was 139.

Meanwhile, apprehensions of illegal entrants in the sector have increased 47 percent to 213,833 over the same period a year ago, Griffin said.

The rise comes as the Border Patrol has started its Arizona Border Control Initiative, the massive push of agents and resources to try to control the border. About $10 million is expected to be spent on the initiative over six months.

In the initiative, 60 temporary rescue agents have saved 51 people in distress in the desert, mainly the west desert, Griffin said.

“And I know they’re out there working 12-hour days and extra shifts,” he said.

Three new helicopters have not yet arrived, but existing Border Patrol and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Black Hawks have been “instrumental” in several operations, he said.

Last weekend, helicopters spotted two large groups totaling more than 300 illegal border crossers between the Altar Valley and Cochise County.

What’s not clear is whether the increase in border security is increasing the apprehension rate, or whether more illegal crossers are attempting to make it into the United States, said Demetrios Papademetriou, an analyst at the Washington-based Migration Policy Institute.

He noted that recent methods illegal entrants have used can also signal a push to try to get into the United States through Arizona.

For example, last week illegal border crossers tried to smash through the border in a 12-vehicle convoy; later another group tried to drive an agent off the road by throwing debris at his truck. Similarly, large groups of illegal border crossers have been found hiding in the backs of delivery trucks on Interstate 19.

If more illegal entrants are trying to cross, two factors could be involved, he said: the possibility of amnesty being offered in President Bush’s temporary worker program; or smugglers aware that the initiative will make it tougher to use Arizona to sneak into the United States.