Friday, May 9, 2003
WorldNetDaily: U.S. liable for border-crosser deaths?
The lawsuit, filed April 30 in U.S. District Court in Tucson, claims federal border policy forced the immigrants to enter the country through the treacherous area southwest of Tucson known to have little water. Border Patrol agents found the immigrants on May 23, 2001 in the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge.
The 14 are among hundreds of undocumented immigrants that have succumbed to the 100-degree temperatures in the desert region since October 2001, according to Border Patrol statistics.
The lawsuit also alleges the department could have prevented the deaths if it hadn't blocked the humanitarian-aid measures of a group called Humane Borders. Two months prior, the human rights organization was refused permission to place a water station "in the exact area" where the crossers died, according to the suit. [...]
Give me a break. Look, it's sad that people died this way. Most people crossing the border are looking for a better shake for themselves.
But we can't take them all, and if we need more migrant labor, than that's a reason to increase legal immigration, or find new temporary worker status solutions.
People shouldn't be crossing a dangerous area. If they do, what happens to them is their own sad responsibility. That desert should be functioning as a natural fence and adding aid stations out there just increases the area our border patrols need to cover and makes more of a mockery of our already fractured border.
It's a sad situation, but it's not the US tax payer's fault.
BTW, will the next lawsuit be against the aid-station people when someone dies because a station ran out of water or wasn't where it was expected to be?
Update: Right Wing News weighs on on this one, too.
