Thinking Out of Bounds: A Critical Analysis of Academic and Human Rights Writings on Migrant Deaths in the U.S.-Mexico Border Region

Abstract

The number of unauthorized immigrants who have died attempting to cross the U.S. southern boundary from Mexico has grown to alarming levels. It is conservatively estimated that between January 1995 and September 2003—a time of an intensified enforcement strategy along the U.S.-Mexico boundary—there were over 2,600 documented deaths of unauthorized migrants in the border region (see CRLAF, 2003). These deaths have received critical attention by academics, policy analysts, and human rights advocates and monitors alike (see, among others, ACLU and CRLAF, 2001; Bustamante, 2001; Cornelius, 2001; Esbach et al., 2001; Hing, 2001; and Reyes et al., 2002).1