Migrant deaths along the Mexico–United States border
[11] Mexico's Secretariat of Foreign Affairs has compiled data including deaths on the Mexican side of the border area during the period from 1994 to 2000.
[16][17][18] A study by the Center for Immigration Research at the University of Houston found that, "In the late 1980s, the number of foreign transient deaths usually exceeded 300, and peaked in 1988 at 355.
[25] On 25 June 2019, seven migrants including a woman and three children were found dead by U.S. Border Patrol Agents near the Rio Grande in South Texas.
A 6-year-old Indian girl was also found dead in June 2019, from heat exposure in western Arizona who was abandoned along with a group of migrants by the smugglers in a remote desert location.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, border agents were made aware of a distress call from the Mexican government concerning a group of six, but were unable to assist them due to the Texas National Guard physically preventing them from doing so under the direction of Governor Greg Abbott.
According to a December 2006 cover story in the San Diego Reader, "...traffic fatalities involving immigrants have more than doubled since 2003 as coyotes, or polleros – the guides leading migrants across the border – try other methods.
On August 7, nine migrants died in a crash in the Yuma sector when the driver of a Chevrolet Suburban – in which 21 Mexicans were 'stacked like cordwood'[31] – lost control after crossing a Border Patrol spike strip at high speed.
"[32] In January 2003, two undocumented immigrant passengers died when their truck crashed on Interstate 8 while fleeing the Border Patrol, after a spike strip punctured a tire.
[34] Close to one hundred undocumented immigrants were struck and killed on San Diego County freeways over a five-year span in the late 1980s, prompting the creation of a highway safety sign to caution drivers about migrants crossing the road.
[35] According to Rodolfo Acuña,[36] Professor Emeritus of Chicano Studies at California State University, "Mexico's Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported 117 cases of human rights abuses by US officials against migrants from 1988 to 1990, including fourteen deaths.
[39] In January 2006, an eight-year veteran of the Border Patrol, fearful of stones which were being thrown at him[40] shot Guillermo Martinez Rodriguez, a known people smuggler who had been detained 11 times prior.
[42] Under the Border Patrol's use-of-force guidelines, agents are permitted to employ lethal force against rock throwers if they pose a threat.
[43] In January 2007, border patrol agent Nicholas Corbett shot and killed Francisco Javier Domínguez Rivera[44] after the latter tried to smash his head with a rock according to the officer's lawyer.
This civil suit claimed that the United States government was responsible for wrongful death of Rivera due to the fact that the agent was performing his official duty.
[49][50][51] Rojas' death was featured on the PBS News Magazine "Need to Know" in April 2012, in which several civilian eyewitnesses gave their testimony and provided two amateur videos of the event.
[52] Since the initial broadcast of "Need to Know", 16 members of congress have demanded a justice department investigation into Anastasio Rojas' death while in Border Patrol's custody, which is currently under way.
Foreign consulates across the Southwest United States, in particular those of Latin American countries, have condemned the deaths of illegal immigrants across the border.
