Who Is Responsible for the Deaths in the Desert?
Thursday, June 14, 2001
By: Dan Stein

Syndicated and published inter alia in Arizona Republic and Dallas Morning News

Almost daily there is news of some new tragedy in the deserts along the U.S.-Mexico border. An average of one migrant a day now dies trying to enter the United States illegally by trekking across some of the harshest terrain in North America.

Anytime tragedies like this occur, there is a need to assess blame and to take corrective action. As is often the case in complex situations, everyone is responsible in some way for the carnage occurring along the border, and ending these tragedies will require a change of behavior on all sides. In this case, “everyone” includes the U.S. government, the Mexican government, and the illegal migrants themselves.

U.S. policies toward illegal immigration are partially responsible for what is happening in the desert - but not for the reasons that immigrant advocates and many in the media suggest. Our policy of increased enforcement in easily accessible areas of the border, particularly near major urban centers of San Diego and El Paso, has been blamed for “forcing” migrants to make a more hazardous journey through the deserts.

The real culpability of U.S. policy is not that we are protecting the most vulnerable points along the border, but that the policy is not backed up with a viable interior enforcement strategy. Our role in the tragedy is that we are sending a mixed message to people on the other side of the border. We have made it more difficult to get across the border illegally, while at the same time our complete lack of interior enforcement sends the opposite message. People understand that if they can successfully elude the Border Patrol, they will have no problem living and working in the United States.

The second culprit in this tragedy is the government of Mexico. While they profess concern about Mexican citizens losing their lives in the desert, their actions make it quite clear that they see these people as martyrs to a larger cause. It is the overt policy of the Mexican government to send their people north of the border. The government makes no secret of the fact that it wants the United States to provide work for people who cannot find it in Mexico and that it relies on remittances from Mexican workers in the U.S. to keep their economy afloat.

Rather than cracking down on the criminal gangs that smuggle (and often abandon) people in the desert, the Mexican government is aiding and abetting in the tragedy. Offering “survival kits” to people attempting to cross the desert - especially in the summertime - is not an act of humanitarianism, but of co-conspiracy. Their goal is not the safety of the migrants, but rather to force the United States to stop enforcing the border.

Finally, the migrants themselves must be held accountable. It is wrong to look at people who act irresponsibly solely as victims. Crossing hostile desert terrain any time of year, much less in the summer, is an act of supreme irresponsibility. That surely does not mean that they deserve to die, or that every effort should not be made to rescue them, but we must not overlook the fact that they are placing themselves in situations of extreme danger.

If this tragedy is going to come to an end, all the participants are going to have to change their ways. For its part, the United States must end its schizophrenic policy that says don’t come illegally, but if you decide to come anyway, we’ll let you stay. Our tougher border enforcement must be backed up with a crackdown on employers who hire illegal immigrants and with a deportation strategy for illegal aliens who are discovered living here.

The government of Mexico must deal harshly with the criminal smuggling rings that operate with impunity on their side of the border. Their failure to do so is a clear indication that their concern for human life takes a back seat to their political goal of pushing their dissatisfied citizens north of the border. It is also evidence that President Fox has a long way to go in his efforts to clean up the corruption that is endemic to law enforcement in his country.

The migrants themselves must obey the law and stop endangering their own lives. People who want to come to the United States should do so legally and wait their turn. Moreover, no one has the right to expect that the United States will stop enforcing its laws because people might harm themselves trying to break them.

Unless all parties to this terrible situation accept their share of responsibility, and change their behavior, this could be a very deadly summer along the border.