US-Mexico border migrant deaths rose in 2017 even as crossings fell

[Tennis]

The number of migrants who died near the US-Mexico border rose in 2017 even as the number of attempted border crossings fell dramatically, according to the United Nations’ migration agency.

Last year, 412 migrant deaths were recorded on either side of the border, up from 398 a year earlier, the International Organization for Migration said, adding that 16 migrant deaths had already been recorded in the area so far in 2018.

“The increase in deaths is especially concerning, as the available data indicate that far fewer migrants entered the US via its border with Mexico in the last year,” Frank Laczko, head of IOM’s Global Migration Data Analysis Centre, said in a statement.


Last year, the US border patrol reported apprehending 341,084 migrants along the south-western border – a 44% drop from the 611,689 migrants apprehended in 2016.

Fewer migrants thus appear to be making the perilous overland journey to America from Central American and Mexico, in what has widely been attributed to harsh, anti-immigrant rhetoric from US President Donald Trump since he came to power in early 2017.

Migrants from Central America and Mexico willing to make the dangerous trip risk being victimised by thieves, criminal gangs and traffickers who sometimes take their money and abandon them in desperate conditions on either side of the US border.

Violence does not appear to be a main cause of migrant deaths near the border.

According to IOM statistics, only five of the deaths recorded last year were confirmed to be due to violence, such as blunt force trauma and gunshot wounds.

However, “there are a lot of bodies recovered which are skeletal or otherwise heavily decomposed on the border, so for many of the deaths we record we do not know the cause of death,” Julie Black, who coordinates IOM’s Missing Migrant Project, told AFP by email.
US border patrol routinely sabotages water left for migrants, report says

Gender can also be difficult to determine: while only 20 of last year’s victims were determined to be women, gender could not be determined in more than 100 cases, Black said.

Seven of the migrants who died last year were children, the IOM numbers show.

One major cause of death among migrants along the border in 2017 was the heavy rainfall early in the year that swelled the Rio Grande, making it more treacherous to cross.

In all, 91 of the migrants who died near the border last year drowned, up from 67 in 2016, the IOM statistics show.

Another 46 died from exposure and dehydration during warm months, when temperatures often top 40C (104F), while 18 died from hypothermia.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...aths-rose-2017

Really sad news. No matter what our affiliation is we should be in support of preserving life.
Both countries need to do more to ensure loss of life is reduced.

[Rustedsaint]

you could always go guide them through the harsh terrain tenni,be hand they need to reach the land of free!
Honestly thou this is just a drop in the bucket compared to people who die crossing into Europe, it’s sad but if I wept every time someone died traveling to a place illegally I’d be drier then some of the corpses they find at the border

[noidentity]

Ok, but how outside of just flat out opening the boarders.

Aside from the deaths possibly caused by murders everything else was caused by the elements, dehydration and drowning. The recorded deaths also doesn't give a breakdown of how many people died on each side of the boarder.

[ufta]

Almost a 50% drop in illegal immigration just from Trump saying that the US isn't cool with it??
Seems like something we should have done a long time ago.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

Almost a 50% drop in illegal immigration just from Trump saying that the US isn't cool with it??
Seems like something we should have done a long time ago.

Didn’t Obama deport like a whole bunch of people?

[Kathandira]

Increase in Migrant deaths just from Trump saying that the he isn't cool with them??
Seems like something we should have done a long time ago.

You could also say, "Increase in Migrant deaths just from Trump saying that the he isn't cool with them??"

[Grym]

If only that wall is built sooner then this won't happen.

Then only those who can afford a flight ticket can cross.

[I Push Buttons]

Didn’t Obama deport like a whole bunch of people?

Politics 101: Its ok when we do it, but bad when they do it.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

If only that wall is built sooner then this won't happen.

Then only those who can afford a flight ticket can cross.

I still don’t get why America/Canada don’t partner with Mexico to bring the stander of living up across the board if all of North America was better off surly it would be Easter to keep people out from South America.

[Independent voter]

It's a merciless desert down there that's killed many. They never bring enough water.

[Daelak]

If only that wall is built sooner then this won't happen.

Then only those who can afford a flight ticket can cross.

Keep telling yourself that.

[Utinil]

I still don’t get why America/Canada don’t partner with Mexico to bring the stander of living up across the board if all of North America was better off surly it would be Easter to keep people out from South America.

The issue is the level of institutional corruption in Mexico. In order to accomplish anything major in Mexico you have to end up bribing at least a half dozen different people, from cartels, politicians, and the police. Many of the people of Mexico accept this as just the way things are done so there is relatively little push to change it. Until the system gets cleaned up you can not invoke a real difference.

One of my wife's coworkers went with us on a trip there a few years ago. We got pulled over (still don't know why to this day). She pulled a card out of her purse, showed it to the officer, and he let us go without saying anything. She later showed us the card and explained that it basically said her father was a police chief somewhere in Mexico and that it let her get away with almost anything.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

The issue is the level of institutional corruption in Mexico. In order to accomplish anything major in Mexico you have to end up bribing at least a half dozen different people, from cartels, politicians, and the police. Many of the people of Mexico accept this as just the way things are done so there is relatively little push to change it. Until the system gets cleaned up you can not invoke a real difference.

One of my wife's coworkers went with us on a trip there a few years ago. We got pulled over (still don't know why to this day). She pulled a card out of her purse, showed it to the officer, and he let us go without saying anything. She later showed us the card and explained that it basically said her father was a police chief somewhere in Mexico and that it let her get away with almost anything.

Well ya but I don’t get why America can’t just “invade” Mexico if they get the Mexican government and people ok with it. Move in America’s huge army and deal with the drug cartels corrupt police ect then leave when the country is under control.

[quras]

If only that wall is built sooner then this won't happen.

Then only those who can afford a flight ticket can cross.

As much as we hear they pay guides and smugglers, they can afford a plane ticket.

[ufta]

You could also say, "Increase in M̶i̶g̶r̶a̶n̶t̶ invader deaths just from Trump saying that the he isn't cool with them??"

Fixed that for you

[Annamarine]

Good we don’t want them, maybe if it’s dangerous enough they will just stay where they belong.

[Tennis]

Good we don’t want them, maybe if it’s dangerous enough they will just stay where they belong.

People are dying and you say "good".
Wow is that what your parents and teachers taught you?

[Fat Mac]

99% of the border is a desert waste land. dont put yourself in that situation unless you know and accept death is an option..

go to arizona. as far as the eye can see there in nothing in most places but mountains and desert

[NED funded]

Canada could always set up an immigration office to receive these immigrants before they cross the borders and prevent all of this, that is if they care (at all) about the well being of immigrants.

[Grym]

I still don’t get why America/Canada don’t partner with Mexico to bring the stander of living up across the board if all of North America was better off surly it would be Easter to keep people out from South America.

Actually keep people out probably easier, and cheaper.