78 Migrant Lives Claimed During July

August 10, 2005

In a pattern that is both familiar and increasingly tragic, the Coalición de
Derechos Humanos/Alianza Indígena Sin Fronteras has compiled the documented number
of deaths of at least 78 migrants in Arizona during the month of July. Sixty-seven
of these deaths were reported by Pima County Medical Examiner, eight by Yuma County
Medical Examiner, and four by the Cochise County Medical Examiner. These deaths
bring the current number of recorded migrant deaths in Arizona to 228, alarmingly
close to the 234 documented deaths in the entire 2004 fiscal year. With two months
remaining in this fiscal year, it is without a doubt that the migrant casualties
will once again reach a record high for Arizona.

These continued deaths, a direct result of failed and flawed immigration and border
policies, emphasize the problem that border communities witness on the U.S.-México
border. Militarization tactics have only been successful at controlling where
migrants cross-they have not, to any degree, changed the fact that migration is a
natural phenomenon that will occur so long as people seek economic security.

Border policies, which have shifted migrant traffic into desolate, dangerous
terrain, have created the human rights crisis in which border communities find
themselves. It is imperative that comprehensive solutions be sought and implemented
to address the specific problems of deaths, divisions, racism, and xenophobia that
have invaded Arizona.

As a non profit human rights organization that seeks to bring change and justice to
the border, Coalición de Derechos Humanos/Alianza Indígena Sin Fronteras calls upon
all friends, allies, and people of conscience to stand together and demand that our
leaders put an end to border deaths by implementing comprehensive immigration reform
and immediately demilitarizing our borders. As we have witnessed for the last ten
years, and as the increasing loss of human life serves to attest, the current border
and immigration policies have failed us in our communities, and have failed in their
obligations to humanity.

The list of migrant deaths is available to the community on the Derechos Humanos
website: http://www.derechoshumanosaz.net. This information is available to anyone who
requests it from us and is used by our organization to further raise awareness of
the human rights crisis we are facing on our borders.