Smugglers leave migrant to die on east side
Posted: Tuesday, October 18, 2011 8:42 am | Updated: 1:33 pm, Tue Oct
18, 2011.
Nogales International | 0 comments
http://www.nogalesinternational.com/news/smugglers-leave-migrant-to-
die-on-east-side/article_e16a5c54-f99f-11e0-ba84-001cc4c002e0.html
A 26-year-old Mexican man has died from exposure after an illegal
border crossing near Nogales, the Border Patrol said.
Nogales Station agents found the man unconscious on Friday afternoon
on the east side of town near Rancho Grande Drive, Border Patrol
spokesman Brent Cagen said. The man's cousin, who was found at his
side, told agents that human smugglers had abandoned them when they
could no longer keep up.
"It's always a risk for these individuals when they choose to cross,"
Cagen said. "All these smuggling organizations care about is getting
money, so if they have to leave one or two people, then they leave
one or two people behind."
The man was attended to by EMTs from the Border Patrol and Nogales
Fire Department, who airlifted him to an unspecified hospital for
further treatment. He died Saturday.
The man's death during the cooler fall season illustrates the fact
that illicit border crossings can become deadly at any time of the
year, Cagen said.
"Even in the winter, with as cold as it can become, and with a person
sweating as much as they are because they've got so many layers on,
they can also become dehydrated just as badly in the winter," he said.
Cagen said the man was from the central state of Guanajuato.
Prior to this case, the sheriff's office had reported 15 confirmed
deaths of undocumented immigrants this calendar year in Santa Cruz
County.
Sonora cases
In another example of smugglers abandoning migrants, the Mexican
government reported earlier this month that agents with its Grupo
Beta migrant-aid agency rescued 38 would-be border-crossers from the
deserts near Nogales Sonora.
In a statement issued Oct. 6, the government said the migrants were
left by human smugglers in two remote locations eight and 15 miles
from the border city.
The migrants told Grupo Beta agents that they had been wandering in
the desert for several days after being abandoned. While they were
found on the Sonoran side of the border, it was unclear if they had
been abandoned in Mexico or the United States.
One of the 38 migrants was hospitalized for dehydration, the Mexican
National Immigration Institution (INM) said.
The five Grupo Beta units assigned to Sonora state rescued a total of
3,563 migrants in the first eight months of 2011, the Spanish news
agency Efe reported. In July, Grupo Beta agents in Sonora recovered
the remains of "about eight people" who apparently died from
sunstroke and dehydration while trying to reach the U.S. border, Efe
reported.
Crushed by rock
On Oct. 5, a 17-year-old migrant was crushed to death by a falling
rock and his 21-year-old traveling companion was injured while they
attempted to cross illegally into the United States west of Nogales,
Sonora, the Sonora State Investigative Police (PEI) said.
Noé Palma Cervantes was killed when the rock landed on him as he
slept on a hillside in the Sierra de la Calaca, between Nogales and
Sasabe, Sonora, the PEI said. Raúl Moreno Ciliano, who was sleeping
next to him, was injured.
Both men were from the southern Mexican state of Puebla, the PEI said.
Palma Cervantes' brother, who was part of the same group but who was
not injured in the incident, said the party planned to cross
illegally into the United States, the PEI said.
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