West News Wire: Most people would agree that immigration is a significant problem in the US and that immigration reform has to be a top priority. However, the human rights situation on the Mexican side of the border receives little attention. Since border security has become more strict, it is assumed that over 5,000 migrants have died in the Sonoran desert. A human rights crisis has arisen as a result of the criminalization of immigration in three areas: (1) the rise in fatalities and injuries among migrants trying to cross the border in dangerous and remote areas; (2) the use of mass hearings to prosecute migrants who have been apprehended; and (3) abuses of migrants in US immigration detention. The vulnerable population who are impacted by these policies and practices suffers significantly as a result. Despite recent legislation designed to discourage undocumented immigration, such as Arizona’s Senate Bill 1070, the deterrence strategy has not diminished migration it has only increased the suffering and deaths of migrants. Humanitarian groups are working to prevent more deaths but also have been targeted for criminalization. The profession’s ethics compel social workers to work with humanitarian organizations to prevent more deaths and to advocate for humane immigration reform.
The Sonoran desert, which covers 120,000 square miles along the border between the United States and Mexico, is an unforgiving landscape. Summertime highs exceed 1206 degrees Fahrenheit, while wintertime lows are below 320 degrees. It is difficult to support human life when there aren’t enough natural resources, such water and vegetation. Many travellers die because they are unprepared for this violence. According to Oimenez (2009), about 5,000 migrants are thought to have perished in the desert since 1994 while trying to enter the United States from Mexico. Over 75 percent of migrant deaths since 1995 have been in the Arizonan desert, according to estimates from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) (GAO, 2006). Federal, state, and local immigration policy and enforcement patterns have increasingly re stricted immigration and criminalized migrants. According to Rubio Goldsmith, McCormick, Martinez, and Duarte (2007), the humanitarian situation for migrants travelling across the Sonoran desert has gotten worse. The perilous route north for migrants continues to result in deaths, serious health hazards, family separation, and the possibility of cruel treatment if arrested and detained despite efforts to stop immigration into the United States. Volunteers organised to provide humanitarian help to migrants in order to address the human rights problem and stop more deaths; as a result, they were criminalised. The number of undocumented immigrants in the United States increased dramatically from 3.5 million in 1990 to around 4 percent (11.9 million) of the population and 5.4 percent (8.3 million) of the workforce in 2008 (Passel & Cohen, 2009). There are claimed to be 76% undocumented immigrants to be Hispanic, 59 percent (7 million) of whom are from Mexico (Passel & Cohen, 2009).
The Mexican Peso Crisis and the North American Free Trade Agreement have increased poverty and inequality in Mexico since the middle of 1995 (Gallegos, 2004; Lovett, 1996), despite the fact that undocumented immigrants to the United States come from all corners of the world. Widespread corruption and bloodshed have been caused by the expansion of the illegal drug trade and the Mexican government’s crackdown (Beer & Mitchell, 2004). Many migrant workers cross the Sonoran desert in search of possibilities to support their family after years of living in poverty (Cleaveland, 2010).
The foreign ministry of Mexico said in a statement that because these state policies “go in the opposite direction from close collaboration,” they “raise concerns about the impact on migrants’ human rights and personal security.”
The body was discovered entangled in the buoys on Thursday, and the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) answered that it appeared the victim had drowned earlier and floated downstream.
About 5 kilometres (3 miles) from the first body, the second, which is still unidentified, was also found.
The buoys, which are viewed by rights groups as a cruel political gimmick, are the focus of a lawsuit by President Joe Biden’s administration.
