By Kimberly Edds
Special to The Washington Post

LOS ANGELES, June 3 -- Fearing another deadly summer along the U.S.-Mexican border, federal officials and the Mexican government today announced a joint
campaign to dispatch more agents and employ more surveillance technology to the desert regions where many migrants have perished in attempted crossings in
recent years.

Despite treacherous terrain, and summer temperatures that often exceed 100 degrees, hundreds of illegal migrants try to make it through the Sonoran Desert each
year. Nearly 100 people died trying to cross the region last year.

"It's the 'corridor of death,' " U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Henry Rolon said. "If they come through that area, there is a high probability that they
are going to die if they don't have any assistance."

Named Operation Desert Safeguard, the joint effort will add 150 Border Patrol agents to an area that stretches along the southern Arizona border, west of Nogales.
Agents will cover the region in specially retrofitted Hummer vehicles designed for search-and-rescue efforts, and on horseback. Two additional surveillance aircraft
have also been assigned to look for migrants in the border region.

Twenty search-and-rescue beacons also are being placed across the desert, allowing migrants in distress to press a button that will summon Border Patrol agents.
And some agents will be sent to camp out in remote locations in an attempt to dissuade migrant smugglers from entering the region.

"The loss of life along our border and in the West Desert Corridor is deplorable and unacceptable," Robert C. Bonner, commissioner of the Bureau of Customs and
Border Protection, said in a statement today. The joint effort "will dramatically reduce the number of people attempting to illegally enter the United States through the
Sonoran Desert area, and by doing so, we will be able to dramatically reduce the number of people who die attempting to cross that desert."

Public service announcements will warn people in Mexico of the risks of illegal border crossings, as well as the dangers of trusting smugglers.

The Spanish-language ads will also air in the United States to discourage families from encouraging illegal crossings.

The campaign follows one of the deadliest cases of immigrant smuggling in recent U.S. history.

Nineteen illegal immigrants died last month after being trapped inside an airtight tractor-trailer when the driver abandoned the vehicle at a Victoria, Tex., truck stop.

More than 70 smuggled workers had been packed into the truck without ventilation in near-record heat. The toll climbed again today, when the bodies of three
suspected illegal immigrants were found inside a rail car outside of Houston.

                                               © 2003