 REPORT FINDS LINKS BETWEEN BORDER ENFORCEMENT AND CAUSES OF MIGRANT DEATHS
The Center for Immigration Research at the University of Houston recently released a report documenting the dangers faced by undocumented border crossers and analyzing the hundreds of deaths that have occurred along the border. In particular the study looked at whether there was a statistical link between border enforcement strategies and the number of border deaths.
The report notes that the border has long been a dangerous region, but that the primary causes of risk have changed in recent years. While in the 1980s, the major causes of death were homicides and vehicle accidents, in the late 1990s exposure, dehydration and other factors relating to enforcement strategies have become leading causes of death.
Since 1994, various programs, including Operation Hold the Line in El Paso and Operation Gatekeeper in San Diego, have fundamentally changed the places where migrants attempt to enter the US. It once was that most undocumented entries occurred in large cities, but with the increased enforcement presence in the cities, migrants have moved to less populated areas to attempt to cross. This means that they face harsher environmental conditions, fewer resources, and greater risks. Where once most people attempting to cross the border did so independently, more and more of them are now going to smugglers. These smugglers are in it for the money, and often rob their charges, physically abuse them, and in far too many cases, simply leave them for dead.
The report finds that, contrary to predictions, increased border enforcement has not led to a decrease in undocumented immigration, but has merely changed the places where people enter, in many cases exposing them to greater danger.
The report is available online at the Center for Immigration Research’s website at www.uh.edu/cir/death.htm.
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