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NAR: The Tucson area of the border is deadly during summer. Consider the story of Lucrecia Dominguez, who died in the desert last summer. Her father Cesario came from the Mexican state of Zacatecas to look for her and spent weeks combing the hills with volunteers from the organization No More Deaths. Volunteer Steve Johnston says when Lucrecia's body was found, it was unrecognizable.
AX: Johnston:
Animals had eaten her body, and her hair was all scattered, and the only way he recognized her was by the rings that were still on her black fingers. The skin on her hands had turned to leather.
NAR: More people have died in the sector covered by the Tucson sector Border Patrol than anywhere else along the border. Last year, more than 280 people died in this area alone. Community groups estimate that more than 3000 migrants have died along the entire border since 1994. Johnston says current enforcement policies lead to more deaths by forcing people away from urban crossings in San Diego and Texas and toward the desert.
AX: Johnston:
If your goal is to pile up bodies in the desert as deterrents, then it works, I suppose, and there are certainly more bodies because of it.
NAR: All the bills proposed in Congress this year include increased border security. The House bill passed in December called for a 700 mile fence on the U.S.-Mexico border. The bill passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee in March called to double the number of Border Patrol agents and add a "virtual wall" made of fences, vehicles, cameras and sensors along the Arizona border. Supporters of the enforcement strategies say that they would reduce deaths by preventing people from crossing illegally. No More Deaths spokeswoman Maryada Vallet says that's not true.
AX: Vallet:
If the guestworker program allowed more people to be able to come with documents to work, that would be great, maybe that would decrease the people who are trying to come across, but you'd still have a lot of people dying because of the enforcement strategy.
NAR: Agent Jim Hawkins of the Tucson Sector Border Patrol says the enforcement strategy isn't what kills migrants. He blames smugglers who lie to migrants about the risks of crossing the desert.
AX: Hawkins:
Most people die because they're not prepared for the desert. And then the smugglers lie to these people and tell them it's only a two hour walk to Phoenix from the border. And that's a five or six day walk.
NAR: That five or six day walk can be deadly if the migrants don't bring enough water or they can't keep up with their group. Hawkins says what happens then is that the coyotes, or smugglers, leave them behind.
AX: Hawkins:
What's happening here is these people are making a decision to risk their lives. Now, they're making a malinformed decision. They're going to do it no matter what is what they're saying.
NAR: The Border Patrol in Tucson has a special unit called Borstar (Border Patrol Search, Trauma and Rescue) with E.M.T.s whose sole mission is to save people from dying in the desert. No matter what happens in Congress, this summer both the Border Patrol and community groups in Arizona will be on the lookout for migrants. Zaidee Stavely, Columbia Radio News.