Unauthorized Border Crossings and Migrant Deaths: Arizona, New Mexico, and El Paso, Texas, 2002–2003
Sanjeeb Sapkota, MBBS, MPH,
Harold W. Kohl, III, PhD,
Julie Gilchrist, MD,
Jay McAuliffe, MD, MPH,
Bruce Parks, MD,
Bob England, MD, MPH,
Tim Flood, MD,
C. Mack Sewell, DrPH,
Dennis Perrotta, PhD,
Miguel Escobedo, MD, MPH,
Corrine E. Stern, DO,
David Zane, MS and
Kurt B. Nolte, MD
Sanjeeb Sapkota and Harold W. Kohl III are with the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Ga. Julie Gilchrist is with the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta. Jay McAuliffe is with the Office of Global Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta. Bruce Parks is with the Forensic Science Center, Pima County Medical Examiner’s Office, Tucson, Ariz. At the time of the study, Bob England was with the Arizona Department of Health Services, Phoenix. Tim Flood is with the Arizona Department of Health Services, Phoenix. C. Mack Sewell is with the New Mexico Department of Health, Santa Fe. At the time of the study, Dennis Perrotta was with the Texas Department of State Health Services, Austin; Miguel Escobedo was with the Texas Department of State Health Services, Public Health Regions 9 and 10, El Paso; and Corrine E. Stern was with the El Paso County Medical Examiner’s Office, El Paso. David Zane is with the Texas Department of State Health Services, Austin. Kurt B. Nolte is with the Office of the Medical Investigator, School of Medicine, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.
FIGURE 1——Locations of bodies of migrants who had attempted unauthorized crossings of the US–Mexican border, found during 2002 and 2003.
Note. Dots represent locations where decedents were found during 2002–2003. Medical examiners’ records provided specific longitude and latitude coordinates for 23.3% of cases and approximate locations for another 55.0% of cases. The dots shown thus represent 78.3% of all decedents found over this span of the US–Mexican border.
FIGURE 2——Percentages of decedents found each month of 2002 and 2003 who had attempted unauthorized crossings of the US–Mexican border, from Yuma, Ariz, to El Paso, Tex.
