Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Immigration Law Blogs -> Immigration Law Answers Blog

Immigration Law

: Immigration Law Answers Blog

Immigrant Deaths Along South Texas Border Rose 72% in 2008

By Robert Kraft

The Dallas Morning News reports an alarming increase in the number of immigrants who died trying to enter the United States last year. Here are excerpts from the article:

The number of immigrant bodies – Mexican and those still unidentified – dealt with by the Mexican consulate in three South Texas counties rose 72 percent in 2008 over the previous year.

The Mexican Consulate in McAllen, which takes the cases for Hidalgo, Starr and Brooks counties, handled 67 bodies in 2008 found by U.S. authorities, as well as those retrieved from the Rio Grande on the Mexican side, The McAllen Monitor reported in Sunday's editions. A year earlier there were 39.

Officials believe an intensified Border Patrol presence as well as new segments of a levee-border wall in Hidalgo County are pushing illegal immigrants to riskier routes.

"I am sure that they are risking themselves through more isolated areas around checkpoints," said Erasmo Martinez, Mexico's consul in McAllen.

Full post as published by Immigration Law Answers Blog on March 02, 2009 (boomark / email).