ARTHUR H. ROTSTEIN
The Associated Press

With three months remaining in this fiscal year, there have been more deaths of illegal immigrants crossing into Arizona - but fewer from heat-related causes - than there were during the same period in each of the past three years, according to the Border Patrol.

By its count, 74 migrants died along the entire Arizona-Mexico border between the time the fiscal year started Oct. 1 and June 30. That included 23 who died from heat exposure, five fewer than in the same period last year.

A record 154 immigrants died in Arizona's deserts in the 2003 fiscal year.

The overall increase is attributed to 22 deaths in vehicle crashes, compared to 10 a year earlier in the same period.

The changes reflect the impact of the Arizona Border Control Initiative, a buildup of agents and technology in the Border Patrol's Tucson sector, which includes all the state's border with Mexico except an area around Yuma, said Border Patrol spokesman Charles Griffin. The sector is the busiest illegal entry point along the Mexican border.

"We feel we're mitigating the heat-related deaths indirectly through our law enforcement operation," Griffin said. "There are more agents out there."

They include 110 on temporary detail to augment the sector's agents while the initiative continues through the fiscal year ending Sept. 30. Most have been assigned to desert areas on the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation, a vast area that has been a key crossing points for immigrants and smugglers.

Another 200 permanent agents were designated for transfer into the Tucson sector, with 163 to arrive during the summer, Griffin said.

There are discrepancies between the numbers of immigrant deaths the Border Patrol compiles and those others count, based on different criteria.

The Border Patrol, for instance, only counts the deaths of those people who are found by its agents or referred to the agency by law enforcement agencies.

Mimi Edmonds, a spokeswoman for No More Deaths, a coalition of human rights groups and churches, pointed to higher death figures compiled by the Pima County medical examiner and Mexican consular offices, and said the increase in vehicular deaths is alarming.

"I don't think we're looking at a decrease," she said. "We may be looking at a change in routes."

Most immigrant deaths attributed to heat exposure occurred on the Connecticut-sized reservation.

People who try to walk across it have a long way to go before getting to water, rides or other assistance, Griffin said.

Smugglers often lie to migrants about the distances they have to walk when they're crossing the border. "We hear it all the time," Griffin said.

The enforcement effort has had other effects, including substantial drops in apprehensions month after month, Griffin said.

"And I think that through our enforcement efforts that we're mitigating those heat-related deaths," he said.

Apprehensions in the Tucson sector reached more than 71,000 in March, but declined to 64,000 in April, nearly 53,000 in May and to about 41,700 in June.

Patrol officials contend that means fewer people are trying to cross the deserts because of the increased enforcement.

Other factors cited for fewer heat-related deaths include fewer triple-digit days this summer, said the Rev. Robin Hoover, founder of the Humane Borders organization, which provides water for migrants at 52 desert locations.

National Weather Service meteorologist John Glueck in Tucson said temperatures were somewhat cooler than normal during June.

Hoover also said a Border Patrol shift of personnel and equipment from Cochise County to the reservation has pushed some of the migration back to the east. "And in the east, there's higher elevation, more water and fewer deaths," he said.

He credited assistance by humanitarian groups with making some difference, noting that migrants' water usage "has remained remarkably the same."

Yuma Border Patrol spokesman Joe Brigman said he believes government rescue beacons that migrants can use to summon help in isolated desert areas and more agents put out in the desert, including an encampment on the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, have deterred illegal immigrants and helped reduce fatalities.

The increased traffic deaths speaks to smugglers' greed in exploiting immigrants by cramming them into unsafe vehicles, Griffin said.

"We're putting a lot of pressure on them so they're trying to put more people in a vehicle and maximize profits," he said.

Stuffing more people into cars, vans or trucks than the vehicles were designed to hold makes them top-heavy and contributes to highway rollovers, Griffin said.

"If we didn't have a substantial increase in vehicular fatalities, we would be down substantially," Griffin said.

On the Net: U.S. Customs and Border Protection Bureau, http://www.cbp.gov/