Migrant Deaths Up Sharply In South Texas

HOUSTON (AP) – The number of dead immigrants found in South Texas has already surpassed last year’s total — heading into the two hottest months of 2008.

Since October, the Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Valley sector has found 67 bodies — after recovering 61 all of the previous fiscal year.

Agency spokesman Daniel Doty told the Houston Chronicle that it’s generally a three-day walk around a checkpoint — but the immigrants are told it’s just a few hours.

Immigrants on foot can become disoriented in the heat and vast scrubland north of the Texas border with Mexico.

Border Patrol officials point to tougher security in Arizona, a long string of days with temperatures approaching 100 degrees and smugglers they say don’t care for their human cargo.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)