The Border Patrol says its crackdown on illegal immigration is saving lives in the busiest entry point for migrants.

The Associated Press

Exposure deaths in what has been a particularly dangerous section of Arizona's deserts have dropped 24 percent because of a massive crackdown this summer on illegal immigration, the head of the U.S. Border Patrol said yesterday.
Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar, in Tucson for a ceremony, said he's pleased with results from the government's effort to make it harder for illegal immigrants to cross into Arizona - the busiest illegal entry point along the U.S.-Mexico border - and to prevent the deaths that have become commonplace in its deserts.

Exposure-related deaths have dipped 24 percent to 33 so far during this fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, in an area west of Tucson that has claimed many lives in recent years.

Pima and Cochise county medical examiners reported in July that 43 deaths were heat-related since Oct. 1, Tucson Citizen archives show.

Border Patrol records for the same period last year show 43 exposure-related deaths in the same area, said Rob Griffin, a spokesman for the patrol's Tucson sector, which covers all of Arizona except an area around Yuma.

Overall, agents have recorded 101 immigrant deaths in the sector so far, down from 124 during the same period last year, Griffin said.

Citizen archives show that in July there were at least 130 immigrant deaths since Oct. 1, according to the medical examiners.

Border Patrol officials have said they believe fewer people are dying because the increased enforcement is discouraging migrants from attempting to cross through the sector. They say having more agents patrolling, including those trained in emergency medicine, also has helped them find more people in distress.

But the Rev. Robin Hoover, founder of Humane Borders, a group that sets out water in the desert for border crossers, noted the overall death toll is almost the same.

"Migrants are still dying at the same rate," Hoover said. "And our primary issue is migrant safety."

Hoover said there have been fewer days with temperatures above 100 degrees. "We're always a little bit suspicious of Border Patrol stats, because they can frequently be explained by other means."

Arizona's other sector, which covers the Yuma area, has reported a sharp increase in deaths this year. There have been 21 so far, up from 12 last year, Yuma sector spokesman Joe Brigman said.

Deaths have dipped in some other sectors along the border.

As far as the overall crackdown, Aguilar said he's pleased with a pilot program using unmanned airplanes to monitor the Arizona-Mexico border and a program to fly illegal immigrants caught in Arizona back to the Mexican interior.