Fewer Migrants Are Crossing the US-Mexico Border. So Why Are More Dying? Zach Toombs - Newsy
go to original October 25, 2016

"We do know that deaths are going up," said Mike Kreyche, a member of Tucson Samaritans. "People from Central America, Mexico looking for some relief from the terrible violence and poverty they're suffering."

"The need is there," said Maria Ochua, another member. "The need to support their families and get away from the violence in their countries."

We're at the U.S.-Mexico border, and in this area, along the southwestern border, 240 migrants died crossing from Mexico into the U.S. last year.

There's something strange happening at the U.S.-Mexico border. U.S. Border Patrol is seeing (and apprehending) fewer people crossing illegally into the country. But at the same time, the number of migrants dying at the border has remained steady - higher now than it was in the late 1990s.

"This looks like the real water drop," Kreyche said. "There's a good chance it was used by people walking through here."

Tucson Samaritans is one of several groups that drops water, food and other aid on the trails migrants take into the U.S.

"The fences tend to end when the going gets tough," Kreyche said. "People are forced to do more dangerous and desperate things, take different roads."

This is one of the spots where aid groups drop water and supplies for migrants coming across the border. We're up here in the mountains. You can't build a wall here, and this is an area where the Border Patrol might not find a lot of migrants who are crossing through into the US.

We're seeing fewer people crossing the border - but more deaths.

Read the rest at KMTV

Related: International Migrant Crisis Hits a Breaking Point in Baja California (Frontera Norte Sur)

Related: Fewer Mexicans Drive Changes in US Immigrant Population (Salon)

Photo: Telegraph UK

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