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The Border Patrol is reporting a drop in deaths along the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a story in The Arizona Republic published today. 

“In the nine months that ended June 30, the Border Patrol reported that 256 illegal immigrants died along the border, including 113 in Arizona,” the paper reported. “That marks the lowest death-toll pace on the entire border since the 2004-05 fiscal year.”

The decrease supports the view that tougher security discourages illegal crossings, The Republic suggested. Some would disagree. 

“There’s a lot more deaths as a result of the building of the wall,” said Chris Fleischman, an All Saints Newman Center parishioner and No More Deaths volunteer. I interviewed Fleischman yesterday, so he wasn’t commenting on the story published today.

Fleischman suggested that increased border security would force immigrants to cross in more dangerous areas of the desert. 

“The same number of people are going to try to come,” he said. The bodies of many who die crossing in the more dangerous areas, like the Tohono O’odham Reservation, are never found, Fleischman believed.

Since stories on immigration regularly elicit reader response, I thought I’d post this blog entry. I’d love to hear what you think about this. 

Is the increased border security leading to fewer border deaths? If not more security, what is the best way to stop the deaths in the desert? (To comment, click on the “Comments” hyperlink, above left.)

I think it’s important, though, to follow the Arizona bishops’ lead when discussing these matters. 

“As Catholics, we are called to live out the principles of global solidarity, to care for and defend the human dignity of one another as members of one universal Body of Christ, and to be active in the public arena to bring the Gospel to bear on the pressing issues of the day,” they wrote in “You Welcomed Me,” a pastoral letter on migration released in 2005.  

So, while I’d love to hear your comments, please remember the human dignity of the immigrants we’re talking about. A person’s legal status does not take their dignity away, and neither should our dialogue.

-JD