Day of the Migrant Dead

On Saturday we had this year's Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) walk to San Xavier Mission (just outside of Tucson) to remember all the migrants who have died crossing the desert in search of work. About 80 walkers carried crosses with the names of those whose bodies were found along the Arizona-Mexico border during the year that ended Sept. 30. But many of the crosses just said "desconocido" - unknown. I took this photo at the prayer service ending the eight-mile walk.



Our crazy immigration policy of the last dozen years has caused a steady stream of migrant deaths. Here are the numbers of known deaths in the last eight years just on the Arizona part of our 2,000 mile border with Mexico. (There is no doubt that many bodies are never found in our vast desert.)
2000-2001 -- 136 deaths
2001-2002 -- 163 deaths
2002-2003 -- 205 deaths
2003-2004 -- 234 deaths
2004-2005 -- 282 deaths
2005-2006 -- 205 deaths
2006-2007 -- 237 deaths
2007-2008 -- 183 deaths
Since Oct. 1st -- 6 deaths