Despite Arizona Crackdown, Border Deaths Increase

Pima County, home to just under a million people in southern Arizona, recently received funding to hire another forensic physician, an anthropologist, and, most disturbingly, a second storage cooler. What's the storage cooler for? With the dramatic increase in deaths among those crossing our southern border and into the harsh expanses of the Arizona desert, Pima County's Medical Examiner's Office has seen an equal increase in workload. More workload means more bodies. And more bodies means more storage coolers.

According to the Los Angeles Times, authorities in Pima County have had trouble keeping up with escalating numbers of victims. In 2008, the county found 171 bodies. In 2009, it was 194. This year, the county has already found 178 bodies in what could total a record-breaking number by the end of the year. With a high temperature of 108 degrees, Pima County reports July 15th as the deadliest day for migrants this year. Seven bodies were found on that one day. In the month of July alone, the county found 59 bodies. Needless to say, the coroner's office in Pima County could only account for the bodies they recovered. No one really knows how many additional bodies remain in the desert.

Ever since the mid 1990s, Arizona's borders have become increasingly porous, according to an in-depth report by the Arizona Daily Star. Sixteen years ago, Operation Gatekeeper, a government-backed initiative from by the Clinton administration, moved major lines of immigration away from California, pushing potential border crossings eastward and into what was assumed to be an impassable journey through the country's southwestern deserts. Ever since, southern Arizona has become a teeming focal point in the national immigration debate. These days, Arizona's citizens have become increasingly agitated. Their representatives, most notably Russell Pearce, Jan Brewer, and John McCain, are more willing and less ashamed of flagrant displays of anti-immigrant hysteria.

So what does this tell us? Despite the controversy surrounding Arizona's SB1070, despite Sheriff Arpaio's increasingly public series of raids on Latino neighborhoods, despite even President Obama ordering additional National Guard troops to the border, people still desperately want to come to this country and are willing to risk their lives to get here. They have ignored a concerted campaign of attack from politicians in Arizona and all over the country. They have ignored the absurd undertaking's of our country's most virulent extremists. Tellingly, the number of undocumented immigrants crossing the border from Mexico has actually decreased this year, which has been credited in large part to the economic downturn, but border deaths have increased. One can only imagine that the people attempting the journey are more desperate, more willing to accept risk, and less willing to turn back. Tragically, far too many end up dried up, starved, and without recourse.

Photo credit: photogirl7.1