As many as 3,200 illegal immigrants died along the Texas-Mexico border between 1985 and 1994, most by drowning in the swift waters of the Rio Grande, according to a study released Thursday.
Most of the victims were never identified and were quickly buried in Texas border towns in nameless graves, said the study by the University of Houston's Center for Immigration Research.The drownings were usually assumed to be accidents, but autopsies were rarely performed because of financial constraints. Other immigrants died inland in assaults, traffic accidents or trying to hop on trains, the study said.
It estimated that at least 330 people die each year at the border. But the system for dealing with dead immigrants is so informal researchers found a case in which an agent pulling a corpse from the water near El Paso, Texas, heard the cries of relatives on the other bank and "simply pushed the body back into the river and shoved it toward the Mexican shore," center director Nestor Rodriguez told a news conference.
As the United States steps up enforcement along its borders, the number of deaths is likely to increase because immigrants will use more dangerous river crossings where patrols are less likely, he said.
The figures, which Rodriguez called "conservative," were compiled in a pioneering eight-month study of the "human cost of immigration" by researchers who pored over records on both sides of the border.
The Rio Grande - Rio Bravo, as it is known in Mexico - which forms the 1,000-mile Texas-Mexico border is narrow in most places, but swift and treacherous at some points.