Mexico Border Deaths Drop to 15-Year Low as More Central Americans Turn Themselves in Astrid Galvan - Associated Press
go to original October 24, 2014

The number of people who die trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border has dropped to the lowest level in 15 years as more immigrants turn themselves in to authorities in Texas and fewer are taking their chances with the dangerous trek across the Arizona desert.

The U.S. government recorded 307 deaths in the 2014 fiscal year that ended in September — the lowest number since 1999. In 2013, the number of deaths was 445.

The Border Patrol's Rio Grande Valley sector in Texas finished the 2014 budget year with 115 deaths, compared with 107 in Arizona's Tucson sector, according to figures obtained by The Associated Press. It marks the first time since 2001 that Arizona has not been the deadliest place to cross the border.

Arizona has long been the most dangerous border region because of triple-digit temperatures, rough desert terrain and the sheer volume of immigrants coming in to the state from Mexico. But more immigrants are now entering through Texas and not Arizona, driven by a surge of people from Central America.

The Tucson and Rio Grande Valley both saw their numbers of deaths decline from 2013, although Arizona's drop was more precipitous.

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