Undocumented Border Crossers Research Articles

Dehydration Rate and a Novel Model to Aid Search and Relief for Undocumented Border Crossers in the Sonoran Desert

There has been a proliferation of geographic literature exploring the fatal effects of immigration policy since the early 2000s. Studies have used geographic information systems (GIS) and predictive modeling to explore potential relationships between border protection infrastructure, environment, and migrant death. Although some studies have used GIS to determine the probable effects of heat stress, none have included the potential perspiration as a limiting factor to pedestrian travel in an arid environment during daylight hours. Heat exposure is the leading cause of mortality for migrants in the desert regions of the U.S.–Mexico border, and humans rely on water to regulate temperature. For a more systematic methodology and higher precision, we calculated the maximum distances a person could walk in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert accounting for sweat rate. The locations of recovered human remains (RHR) correlate with water usage and increased difficulty of pedestrian travel. Further, our results showed at higher precision a significant correlation of mortality and spatial rates of dehydration and demonstrate that sweat rate is a better predictor of RHR location than heat or slope alone and will be more informative for search and relief operations in the region.

Climate impact or policy choice? The spatiotemporality of thermoregulation and border crosser mortality in southern Arizona

AbstractUS public officials frequently argue that high temperatures are responsible for increasing mortality of undocumented border crossers (UBCs) in southern Arizona. In this article, we suggest that these kinds of assertions are not only empirically misleading, they also serve to naturalise UBC deaths in the region by helping to obscure their structural causes. Indeed, although heat exposure is a primary cause of death in the region, prior studies have also shown that migration patterns have shifted toward more remote and rugged terrain, characterised by higher elevations and greater shade cover. Using physiological modelling and a spatiotemporal forensic analysis, we assess whether the distribution of recovered human remains has shifted toward locations characterised by environments where the human body is more or less capable of regulating core temperature, and thus succumbing to heat stress. We find that the distribution of recovered UBC remains has consistently trended toward locations where the potential for heat stress is lower, rather than higher. This demonstrates that UBC mortality is not principally a function of ambient or regional temperature, but rather is a result of specific policy decisions that lead to cumulative stress and prolonged exposure due to factors like difficulty and distance of travel. To contextualise these findings, we discuss the evolution of the US Border Patrol's policy of Prevention Through Deterrence, and apply the concepts of structural and cultural violence to theorize its consistently deadly outcomes.

Comparison of strontium isotope ratios in Mexican human hair and tap water as provenance indicators

Deceased undocumented border crossers are some of the most difficult individuals to identify due to the inability to narrow down the region of origin and therefore to obtain family reference samples for DNA comparison. The isotopic compositions of various body tissues have been demonstrated to be useful biomarkers for tracking locations and movements to aid in the identification of human remains. This study closes the large spatial gap of available 87Sr/86Sr ratios from North America in tap water and presents the first 87Sr/86Sr human tissue-based ratios from Mexico. The 101 hair samples from 32 locations in Mexico range in 87Sr/86Sr ratios from 0.70424 to 0.71613 (ΔSrmax–min=0.01189). Furthermore, 151 tap water samples from 51 locations range between 0.70404 to 0.71385 (ΔSrmax–min=0.00981). Overall, small variations in the hair and tap water samples collected from individual locations were recorded (ΔSrmax–min=0.00041 and 0.00034 respectively). Despite the fact that Mexico is one of the largest bottled water consumers in the world, the 87Sr/86Sr ratios of human hair and tap water correlated strongly (R2=0.87 for location averages and R2=0.80 when using individual data points). These data represent a valuable resource for identifying the provenance of human remains.

Spatial Distributions of Oxygen Stable Isotope Ratios in Tap Water From Mexico for Region of Origin Predictions of Unidentified Border Crossers.

One of the many difficulties associated with identifying undocumented border crossers stems from an inability to narrow down the search area for the region of origin and family members to obtain family reference samples for DNA comparison. While the geography of regions of origins is wide, the biological profiles of the undocumented border crossers often show strong similarities, young and male. The isotopic composition of human bones, teeth, and hair has been demonstrated to be useful biomarkers for tracing locations and movements of individuals and for aiding in the identification of human remains. Data obtained from human remains can be compared to and aligned with various reference sources, such as soils and bedrock, archaeological remains, or cultural data. Here, the spatial deficiency in isotopic reference data for Mexico, specifically for oxygen (δ18 O) isotopes in tap water, is being addressed through the collection and analysis of over 150 water samples and explored with tooth enamel isotopic values from recently identified Mexican nationals. The isoscape was developed using a Spine with Barriers interpolation method and shows sufficient detail to narrow down the regions where specific isotopic values are represented. The individuals were plotted on the developed isoscape using conditional correlations. The methodology was successful in assigning the correct regions of origin for the two individuals, which shows the tremendous potential of the developed isoscape. Nonetheless, there is more research needed to further improve upon this geolocation method, including analysis of multiple isotopes in different tissues, and the development of new isotopic methods.

Corruption at the Border: Intersections between US Labour Demands, Border Control, and Human Smuggling Economies

AbstractBased on a qualitative methodology that includes in‐depth interviews conducted between 2008 and 2017 with 180 migrant smugglers from Mexico, the objective of this paper is to analyse the way US employers' interest in having access to cheap labour feeds migrant smuggling, and is connected to corruption in US border enforcement. We conclude that corruption on the US side of the border could be systematic and not a matter of a few bad apples. Corruption is manifested in selective enforcement, which is a pragmatic practice that justifies enhanced immigration enforcement, and benefits US immigration agents, US employers and Mexican smugglers, while undocumented border crossers suffer the monstrous effects of militarised border enforcement.

An analysis of U.S. Custom and Border Protection’s tripartite Mexico border security policy

The Custom and Border Protection (CBP) border security policy was explicitly presented by former Acting Commissioner of CBP, David Aguilar, in testimony before the United States Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) on April 4, 2017 in testimony on the subject of “Fencing Along the Southwest Border.” Important for discussion here are the key components of the DHS/CBP/Border Patrol’s strategy, or sets of policies, laying forth elements of the border walls (including barriers, fences), personnel, and technology in order to hinder, or intercept, undocumented migrants (homo sacer) from entering the United States illegally—all socially constructed. Aguilar notes in his opening remarks “Maintaining a safe and secure environment along the U.S.—Mexico border is critical. A safe and orderly border that is predicated on the strong rule of law deprives criminal organizations, drug cartels, and criminal individuals the opportunity to thrive.” In Aguilar’s testimony, when pressed by Ranking Member Senator Claire McCaskill, he set forth the current needs for CBP/Border Patrol priority of the three elements in the following order: (1) Technology (border surveillance), (2) Personnel (numbers of agents along the border), and, (3) The Border Wall (physical infrastructure: fences, walls, and vehicle barriers). The security apparatus affects dwellers along the Rio Grande and undocumented border crossers, demonstrated here with an analysis of the application of President Trump’s Zero Tolerance policy (April 6–June 20, 2018). The security framework applied in this paper will consist of theoretical approaches assessing border surveillance as a panopticon, the use of Border Patrol agents for apprehending, detaining and removing homo sacer, and the symbolism of the border wall as a spectacle and simulacrum—all understood in the pursuit of USA border security policy.

Environmental Deaths in Southern Arizona.

The Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner (PCOME) maintains medicolegal jurisdiction over Southern Arizona, which includes the Sonoran Desert and the Arizona/Mexico border. Given the unique climate and biodiversity of the Sonoran Desert coupled with the Mexican border, environmental-related deaths are represented in proportions different from other jurisdictions in the United States. A retrospective study of deaths falling into one of five categories (hyperthermia, hypothermia, undetermined with skeletal and/or mummified modifiers, venom-related, and lightning) certified by the PCOME between January 1, 2010 and December 1, 2017 was conducted by searching the PCOME electronic database. Of the 16 649 cases certified by the office during that time, 639 were categorized into one of the above five categories. Hyperthermia cases were the most common, followed by undetermined, hypothermia, venom-related, and lightning. A unique population of individuals referred to as undocumented border crossers (UBCs) is discussed and accounted for 470 of the 639 deaths.

Craniofacial asymmetry as a marker of socioeconomic status among undocumented Mexican immigrants in the United States

This study examines levels of fluctuating asymmetry (FA) in Mexican residents, U.S. residents, and undocumented border crossers (UBCs) from Mexico to the United States. Craniofacial structures develop symmetrically under ideal circumstances; however, during periods of developmental stress random deviations from perfect symmetry, or FA, can occur. It is hypothesized that the UBC sample would represent individuals of a lower socioeconomic status (SES) who experienced higher stress levels during development, and that these individuals would consequently have higher levels of FA. Three-dimensional cranial landmarks were collected from 509 individuals representing the three resident groups. Geometric morphometric methods were used to calculate an FA score for each individual. The FA score provides a distance measure that is a scalar measure of the magnitude of FA in each individual. The results show that the difference in the means of the FA scores between UBCs and U.S. residents is 0.43 (p = 0.02), with UBCs showing significantly higher levels of FA compared to U.S. residents. Moreover, Mexican residents’ FA levels are intermediate between and not significantly different from the other two samples. These results suggest that levels of FA may prove useful for reconstructing individuals’ social and economic circumstances, and that craniofacial asymmetry provides a suitable biological marker for analyzing differences in SES among different groups.

Human identification and global patterns of craniofacial variation

Research into the genetic admixture proportions from different geographic areas in the United States through autosomal markers demonstrates a complex process with differences in the extent of European contributions to Southern and non-southern African-Americans. There is a global mass migration crisis of people escaping war, starvation, and displacement. These demographic shifts and migration have further increased human identification of undocumented border crossers. What contribution can craniofacial measures make to this global problem? Data for seven West African samples were collected as part of the 3D-ID, Geometric Morphometric Classification of Crania for Forensic Scientists software. Six of the West-African samples were collected from the American Museum of Natural History in NYC and the Angolan sample was collected from the Bocage Museum in Lisbon. Samples from Diaspora populations including modern African Americans, and African Slaves from Cuba are also analyzed and compared.

In Defense of Wilderness

No More Deaths provides humanitarian aid across several different public land jurisdictions, from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), to the National Park Service, to the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Each of these public lands agencies partners with the US Border Patrol in doing immigration control and drug interdiction, while also engaging in their own efforts to pick up trash left behind by undocumented border crossers and protect natural resources from degradation caused by border enforcement and smuggling activities. In their effort to “clean up” public lands, land managers broadly define litter to include humanitarian supplies, such as water, food, and blankets, left by No More Deaths and other humanitarian groups. These efforts, therefore, serve not only to restrict the provision of humanitarian aid but also to erase all evidence of the presence of undocumented border crossers and their passage across the landscape. While the scale of this dual apprehension and erasure effort has reached unprecedented levels in recent decades, it is by no means new. Throughout the twentieth century, these same public land management agencies worked both to physically remove and erase the presence of local Anglo ranchers, Native Americans, and neighboring Mexicans. Contemporary efforts of removal and erasure of undocumented border crossers, therefore, are part of a long lineage of defining who belongs and who does not belong on these public lands. In this article, I argue that the work of No More Deaths also has dual roles, as it both provides direct humanitarian aid to undocumented border crossers and works to counter the erasure effort of public land managers.

The 2,000 Mile Wall in Search of a Purpose: Since 2007 Visa Overstays have Outnumbered Undocumented Border Crossers by a Half Million

The Trump administration has made the construction of an “impregnable” 2,000-mile wall across the length of the US-Mexico border a centerpiece of its executive orders on immigration and its broader immigration enforcement strategy. This initiative has been broadly criticized based on: Escalating cost projections: an internal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) study recently set the cost at $21.6 billion over three and a half years; Its necessity given the many other enforcement tools — video surveillance, drones, ground sensors, and radar technologies — and Border Patrol personnel, that cover the US-Mexico border: former DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff and other experts have argued that a wall does not add enforcement value except in heavy crossing areas near towns, highways, or other “vanishing points” (Kerwin 2016); Its cost-effectiveness given diminished Border Patrol apprehensions (to roughly one-fourth the level of historic highs) and reduced illegal entries (to roughly one-tenth the 2005 level according to an internal DHS study) (Martinez 2016); Its efficacy as an enforcement tool: between FY 2010 and FY 2015, the current 654-mile pedestrian wall was breached 9,287 times (GAO 2017, 22); Its inability to meet the administration’s goal of securing “operational control” of the border, defined as “the prevention of all unlawful entries to the United States” (White House 2017); Its deleterious impact on bi-national border communities, the environment, and property rights (Heyman 2013); and Opportunity costs in the form of foregone investments in addressing the conditions that drive large-scale migration, as well as in more effective national security and immigration enforcement strategies. The Center for Migration Studies (CMS) has reported on the dramatic decline in the US undocumented population between 2008 and 2014 (Warren 2016). In addition, a growing percentage of border crossers in recent years have originated in the Northern Triangle states of Central America (CBP 2016). These migrants are fleeing pervasive violence, persecution, and poverty, and a large number do not seek to evade arrest, but present themselves to border officials and request political asylum. Many are de facto refugees, not illegal border crossers. This report speaks to another reason to question the necessity and value of a 2,000-mile wall: It does not reflect the reality of how the large majority of persons now become undocumented. It finds that two-thirds of those who arrived in 2014 did not illegally cross a border, but were admitted (after screening) on non-immigrant (temporary) visas, and then overstayed their period of admission or otherwise violated the terms of their visas. Moreover, this trend in increasing percentages of visa overstays will likely continue into the foreseeable future. The report presents information about the mode of arrival of the undocumented population that resided in the United States in 2014. To simplify the presentation, it divides the 2014 population into two groups: overstays and entries without inspection (EWIs). The term overstay, as used in this paper, refers to undocumented residents who entered the United States with valid temporary visas and subsequently established residence without authorization. The term EWI refers to undocumented residents who entered without proper immigration documents across the southern border. The estimates are based primarily on detailed estimates of the undocumented population in 2014 compiled by CMS and estimates of overstays for 2015 derived by DHS. Major findings include the following: In 2014, about 4.5 million US residents, or 42 percent of the total undocumented population, were overstays. Overstays accounted for about two-thirds (66 percent) of those who arrived (i.e., joined the undocumented population) in 2014. Overstays have exceeded EWIs every year since 2007, and 600,000 more overstays than EWIs have arrived since 2007. Mexico is the leading country for both overstays and EWIs; about one- third of undocumented arrivals from Mexico in 2014 were overstays. California has the largest number of overstays (890,000), followed by New York (520,000), Texas (475,000), and Florida (435,000). Two states had 47 percent of the 6.4 million EWIs in 2014: California (1.7 million) and Texas (1.3 million). The percentage of overstays varies widely by state: more than two-thirds of the undocumented who live in Hawaii, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania are overstays. By contrast, the undocumented population in Kansas, Arkansas, and New Mexico consists of fewer than 25 percent overstays.

The 2,000 Mile Wall in Search of a Purpose: Since 2007 Visa Overstays have Outnumbered Undocumented Border Crossers by a Half Million

The Trump administration has made the construction of an “impregnable” 2,000-mile wall across the length of the US-Mexico border a centerpiece of its executive orders on immigration and its broader immigration enforcement strategy. This initiative has been broadly criticized based on: • Escalating cost projections: an internal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) study recently set the cost at $21.6 billion over three and a half years; • Its necessity given the many other enforcement tools — video surveillance, drones, ground sensors, and radar technologies — and Border Patrol personnel, that cover the US-Mexico border: former DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff and other experts have argued that a wall does not add enforcement value except in heavy crossing areas near towns, highways, or other “vanishing points” (Kerwin 2016); • Its cost-effectiveness given diminished Border Patrol apprehensions (to roughly one-fourth the level of historic highs) and reduced illegal entries (to roughly one-tenth the 2005 level according to an internal DHS study) (Martinez 2016); • Its efficacy as an enforcement tool: between FY 2010 and FY 2015, the current 654-mile pedestrian wall was breached 9,287 times (GAO 2017, 22); • Its inability to meet the administration's goal of securing “operational control” of the border, defined as “the prevention of all unlawful entries to the United States” (White House 2017); • Its deleterious impact on bi-national border communities, the environment, and property rights (Heyman 2013); and • Opportunity costs in the form of foregone investments in addressing the conditions that drive large-scale migration, as well as in more effective national security and immigration enforcement strategies. The Center for Migration Studies (CMS) has reported on the dramatic decline in the US undocumented population between 2008 and 2014 (Warren 2016). In addition, a growing percentage of border crossers in recent years have originated in the Northern Triangle states of Central America (CBP 2016). These migrants are fleeing pervasive violence, persecution, and poverty, and a large number do not seek to evade arrest, but present themselves to border officials and request political asylum. Many are de facto refugees, not illegal border crossers. This report speaks to another reason to question the necessity and value of a 2,000-mile wall: It does not reflect the reality of how the large majority of persons now become undocumented. It finds that two-thirds of those who arrived in 2014 did not illegally cross a border, but were admitted (after screening) on non-immigrant (temporary) visas, and then overstayed their period of admission or otherwise violated the terms of their visas. Moreover, this trend in increasing percentages of visa overstays will likely continue into the foreseeable future. The report presents information about the mode of arrival of the undocumented population that resided in the United States in 2014. To simplify the presentation, it divides the 2014 population into two groups: overstays and entries without inspection (EWIs). The term overstay, as used in this paper, refers to undocumented residents who entered the United States with valid temporary visas and subsequently established residence without authorization. The term EWI refers to undocumented residents who entered without proper immigration documents across the southern border. The estimates are based primarily on detailed estimates of the undocumented population in 2014 compiled by CMS and estimates of overstays for 2015 derived by DHS. Major findings include the following: • In 2014, about 4.5 million US residents, or 42 percent of the total undocumented population, were overstays. • Overstays accounted for about two-thirds (66 percent) of those who arrived (i.e., joined the undocumented population) in 2014. • Overstays have exceeded EWIs every year since 2007, and 600,000 more overstays than EWIs have arrived since 2007. • Mexico is the leading country for both overstays and EWIs; about one-third of undocumented arrivals from Mexico in 2014 were overstays. • California has the largest number of overstays (890,000), followed by New York (520,000), Texas (475,000), and Florida (435,000). • Two states had 47 percent of the 6.4 million EWIs in 2014: California (1.7 million) and Texas (1.3 million). • The percentage of overstays varies widely by state: more than two-thirds of the undocumented who live in Hawaii, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania are overstays. By contrast, the undocumented population in Kansas, Arkansas, and New Mexico consists of fewer than 25 percent overstays.

Undocumented Narratives: Migrant Testimonio in La Migra me hizo los mandados

Undocumented Narratives:Migrant Testimonio in La Migra me hizo los mandados Brittany Henry (bio) La migra a mí me agarró300 veces digamospero jamás me domóA mí me hizo los mandados,los golpes que a mí me dio,se los cobré a sus paisanosThe border patrol has caught me,say three hundred times,but they haven't tamed me,they can't get the best of me,the beatings I tookwere later paid for by their countrymen Jorge Lerma1 In 2002, in the midst of a surge in nativist anti-immigrant politics, Los Angeles journalist Alicia Alarcón published La Migra me hizo los mandados, a collection of testimonios recounting the border-crossing experiences of twenty-nine California residents who immigrated to the United States from Mexico, Central America, and South America in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.2 Alarcón's text, as well as its 2004 English translation, emerged in the wake of 9/11, as national security concerns heightened anti-immigrant sentiments and became [End Page 109] rhetorical fodder for nativist activists concerned by the influx of Spanish-speaking immigrants.3 The book is one of several works published in the first decade of the new millennium intended to serve as a humanizing antidote to nativist rhetoric, including Rubén Martínez's Crossing Over: A Mexican Family on the Migrant Trail (2001) and Luis Alberto Urrea's The Devil's Highway: A True Story (2004).4 Alarcón's text is different from these journalistic accounts, however, for both the diversity of stories it contains as well as the way it foregrounds the voices of undocumented immigrants themselves. The stories contained in La Migra come from tales that were submitted by callers to Alarcón's radio talk show, which she read aloud on the air. Alarcón eventually collected the stories her callers submitted, performed an initial round of edits for clarity and readability, and after receiving permission from the narrators, submitted them to Arte Público Press to be compiled into a book.5 In both their radio and print form, these stories are representative of the increasing interest in migrant testimonio in recent years and signal the growing presence of testimonio in various mediums as part of the US political and literary landscape.6 Alarcón stages these testimonios as a form of political protest, employing the dual media of radio and print as technologies of resistance in response to the ever-increasing technologies of surveillance that have militarized the border and framed undocumented border-crossers as enemy combatants. While these testimonios speak collectively to migrants' persistent evasion of such surveillance technologies, they also underscore the high human costs of their efforts.7 In the process, I argue, the testimonios in La Migra offer a humanizing narrative that combats nativist panic, underscores the importance of lived experience to explanatory narratives of immigration, and models an intersubjective relationality that disrupts the nationalist mythology of the American Dream by uncovering the arbitrariness and ethical limitations of citizenship status as the prerequisite for inclusion in political community. I begin by outlining how, in the context of nativist backlash against immigration in the late twentieth century, the dissemination of migrant testimonio via Alarcón's radio show and book creates a public space within which the undocumented community can speak back to anti-immigrant discourse. In the process, the testimonios Alarcón compiles function both as community building and as a mode of activism. Next, I argue that the stories the narrators recount humanize not only the "illegal" immigrant but also the history of immigration itself. As an alternative mode of historical narrative, the testimonios in La Migra decenter the role of the detached, anonymous observer as the voice of history and offer instead a form of embodied history that cannot be divorced from the individuals whose stories it tells. Following this analysis, I examine how representations of the visceral experience of migration in the testimonios emphasize the perilous and dehumanizing conditions of the journey north, while also bearing witness to the ways that bodies form intimate connections in extreme conditions to sustain one another. Here, I draw from Kelly Oliver...

Skeletal Indicators of Stress: A Component of the Biocultural Profile of Undocumented Migrants in Southern Arizona.

The ability of forensic anthropologists in the United States to distinguish the remains of foreign nationals from those of American citizens may be crucial to the identification process. This study adds new criteria for identifying Hispanic foreign nationals in southern Arizona to those previously outlined by Birkby et al. (J Forensic Sci 53, 2008, 29) in the "cultural profile." Skeletal indicators of nonspecific stress were evaluated in undocumented border crossers (UBCs) at the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner and in documented American samples. Odds ratios show significant associations between UBC status and the presence of porotic hyperostosis and enamel hypoplasias, which are, respectively, 7.9 and 3 times more prevalent among UBCs. These findings are consistent with disparities in access to adequate nutrition and health care during childhood. In conjunction with context and other biocultural factors, the presence of these conditions should prompt practitioners to consider that unidentified remains may represent foreign nationals.

The Punishment/El Castigo: Undocumented Latinos and US Immigration Processing

For undocumented people who become eligible for a US immigrant visa, the pathway to lawful status bifurcates around one central question: how did you get into the USA? While most visa overstayers can adjust their status within the USA, undocumented border crossers must leave the USA to change their status. When they do, all but a few trigger a 10-year bar—often called ‘el castigo’ in Spanish or ‘the punishment’—on their return. This paper draws on a three-year ethnographic study to explore the process of legalisation for Latinos who entered and lived in the USA unlawfully. I pay particular attention to how ‘grounds of inadmissibility’ and federal criminal prosecutions for unauthorised entry disproportionately penalise working-class Latinos, creating a minefield of racialised obstacles to their lawful status. Together, I argue, racialised criminalisation and higher hurdles to lawful status amount to a one–two punch that makes it extraordinarily difficult for undocumented Latinos to ever change their status, even when they are eligible for an immigrant visa based on their marriage to US citizens.

A Continued Humanitarian Crisis at the Border: Undocumented Border Crosser Deaths Recorded by the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner, 1990-2012

This report analyzes the numeric trends and demographic characteristics of the deaths of undocumented border crossers in the area covered by the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner which is located in the city of Tucson, Arizona. This office provides medico-legal death investigation for the western two-thirds of the Tucson Sector’s southern border with Mexico (Anderson 2008) and has been the office responsible for the examination of over 95% of all migrant remains discovered in Arizona since 2003 (Coalicion de Derechos Humanos 2013). The data for this report come from the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner.

‘Rights’ in the grey area: undocumented border crossers on Lesvos

The Aegean island of Lesvos is one of the gateways that refugees and undocumented border crossers use for entering European territory. This study deals with two phenomena related to border crossings on Lesvos: first, the efforts of those arriving to be placed in the status of ‘administrative detention’ in order to receive an expulsion order and then be able to continue their journey; and, second, the activity of the local solidarity network, which initially established an open reception centre for refugees and undocumented immigrants under the umbrella of the civil society, until some activists agreed to put this project under the jurisdiction of the state authorities. In reflecting on these developments, the author addresses two major issues: first, immigration imprisonment as a facet of ‘positive power’ in the Foucauldian sense, and the possible relationship of the latter to grassroots humanitarian commitment; and, second, specific facets of the current paradigm of immigration imprisonment that can help explain why detention may be interpreted as a right by refugees and immigrants. The author argues that the humanitarianism that arises in the interface of surveillance and the provision of care demonstrates post-bureaucratic features; and further, that the strategy pursued by refugees and undocumented immigrants shows how limited their scope is for asserting any rights, given the intensified augmentation of border surveillance worldwide.

Spectrum of critical illness in undocumented border crossers. The Arizona-Mexico border experience.

Approximately 150-250 migrants die each year while attempting to cross the border from Mexico to the Southwest United States. Many border crossers survive the journey, but some develop life-threatening medical complications. Such complications have been subject to little formal analysis. We sought to determine the causes of critical illness in this population and to analyze the hospital course and outcomes of these patients. We retrospectively identified border crossers admitted to the intensive care units (ICUs) of two major teaching hospitals in southern Arizona. We recorded admitting diagnoses, severity of illness, length of stay, resource use, discharge diagnoses, and mortality. Our investigation identified 55 admissions to adult ICUs between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2012. The median age of patients was 27 years. The median hospital length of stay was 7 days, with a median ICU length of stay of 3 days. The median temperature on arrival to the emergency department was 36.8°C. The most common admission diagnoses included trauma (40), rhabdomyolysis (27), acute liver injury (25), dehydration (24), acute kidney injury (19), and encephalopathy (17). Thirteen patients presented with respiratory failure, six patients with severe sepsis, and two with septic shock. A total of 19 patients required ventilator support during their hospital stay, and 30 required at least one surgical intervention. One patient required renal replacement therapy. The median Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score was 6. All but one patient survived to discharge from the hospital. Border crossers are a unique population of young individuals exposed to high temperatures and extreme conditions. Our review of border crosser admissions showed that most patients demonstrated signs of dehydration and leukocytosis, despite a normal median temperature. The median ICU stay was short, despite a high number of patients requiring ventilator support and surgical intervention. Only one death occurred in this cohort.

Human Rights in the Context of Environmental Conservation on the US-Mexico Border

At Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, a wilderness area on the US-Mexico border in Arizona, conflicting policies permit the provision of supplementary water for wildlife but not for undocumented immigrants passing through the area. Federal refuge environmental policy prioritizes active management of endangered and threatened species. Vast systems of water resources have been developed to support wildlife conservation in this extremely hot and dry environment. At the same time, humanitarian groups are not allowed to supply water to undocumented border-crossers in the park. Human border-crossers must utilize nonpotable wildlife water “guzzlers” for survival and face a real risk of illness or death by dehydration. This article analyzes human rights via an ethnographic lens. From this perspective, water policy at the wildlife refuge brings into question the value of human life in a border conservation context, especially for those entering the site “illegally.”

Structural Violence and Migrant Deaths in Southern Arizona: Data from the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner, 1990–2013

This article analyzes numeric trends and demographic characteristics of undocumented border crossers (UBCs) who have perished in southern Arizona between 1990 and 2013 in the area covered by the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner (PCOME) in Tucson, Arizona. Of 2,413 UBC decedents investigated during this period, 95 percent died after 1999 and 65 percent after 2005. The rate of UBC deaths in the Tucson Border Patrol Sector has been consistently high, with an average of nearly 163 deaths investigated per year between 1999 and 2013. The increase in border enforcement during the mid-to-late 1990s, which led to a shifting of unauthorized migration flows into more desolate areas, coincided with an increase in migrant remains investigated by the PCOME. Despite a decrease in the number of unauthorized crossers traversing the area as measured by the number of Border Patrol apprehensions in the Tucson Sector, the number of remains examined for every 100,000 apprehensions nearly doubled between 2009 and 2011. These findings suggest that migrants are being forced to travel for longer periods of time through remote areas in an attempt to avoid detection by US authorities, thus increasing the probability of death. The typical UBC decedent can be described as a male near the age of 30 from central or southern Mexico who perished in a remote area of southern Arizona after attempting to cross into the United States. Nevertheless, the share of non-Mexican UBCs in the region has increased notably over time. The findings show other important differences in UBC decedent characteristics across time periods, which speak to the dynamic nature of unauthorized migration as a social process. The authors contend that these deaths and demographic changes are the result of structural and political transformations over the past two decades. They argue that the tragic, yet mostly preventable, migrant deaths in southern Arizona constitute a form of structural violence.