Border Patrol Crackdown Shines Light On Rising Number Of Migrant Deaths

The recent arrest of an activist from the group No More Deaths is highlighting the rising number of people who die crossing the U.S.-Mexico border and the challenges that humanitarian workers confront when they try to help. At least 7,209 people have died while illegally crossing the southwestern border over the past 20 years, according to U.S. Border Patrol data, but an investigation by USA Today finds official statistics underestimate the number of deaths. The number is much higher because, for the most part, federal authorities' casualty count does not include people whose remains are recovered by local authorities. While data reveal that fewer people are crossing illegally overall, more migrants are taking remote and dangerous routes in Arizona due to increased border security at safer crossing points in California and Texas, says Alicia Dinsmore, a volunteer with No More Deaths. "People weren't crossing through treacherous terrain like the terrain they currently are until the 2000s," she tells Here & Now's Robin Young. "In the mid-'90s, Border Patrol changed its enforcement policy to build up enforcement in the easy-to-cross areas and funnel people into the harsh, desolate desert terrain."...more