Migrant Deaths At The Border Tracked By New App; Number Of Fatalities Doubled In 2012

Earlier this month, the Pima County, Arizona county medical examiner's office and a Tucson human rights group made available to the public an online mapping tool which allows a user to track and investigate the deaths of migrants along the county's border since 2001.

The Associated Press reports that the rates of deaths along border-crossers continue to rise, with 70 bodies found in the first six months of the fiscal year, more than twice as many as in 2012. And last year, according to the Border Patrol, some 463 migrants died while crossing the southwestern section of the border, a fact which may be attributable to enhanced border patrols, which discourage migrants from following certain more easily navigable routes.

Click here to view the mapping tool.

The app, called the Arizona OpenGIS Initiative for Deceased Migrants, was funded by an anonymous $175,000 grant to the county. Humane Borders, the human rights group who collaborated with the county on the project, hopes that better tracking will help give aid workers along the border an idea of where to locate their food and water stations, potentially reducing the number of deaths. The organization distributes posters warning of the dangers of crossing the border on foot in addition to distributing water.

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The data might also be used to trace shifts in migrant traffic and to better understand how certain border policing strategies affect the safety of migrants attempting to evade detection, according to Mother Jones.

Enrique Mendiola, a U.S. Border Patrol spokesman for the Rio Grande valley region -- where arrests of border crossers rose 65 percent in the past year -- told the AP that the flat, brushland terrain is especially difficult to travel, as many migrants find they are unable to orient themselves. Mendiola said that smugglers who guide groups across the frontier are ruthless in their calculations -- often choosing to leave individuals behind if they lag, counting them as lost revenue.

The average cost for the services of a smuggler, or a "coyote," is about $3,500, though the price has been rising in recent years.

The immigration reform proposal currently being amended by the Senate contains a clause which would necessitate "an effectiveness rate [in apprehending migrant crossers] of 90 percent or higher in all high-risk border sectors along the Southern border."