The Perils of Crossing the Border: Mexico Discovers Mass Graves

There has been much written about violence on the border between the United States and Mexico.

What has not been reported with nearly the same frequency is the increase in violence to immigrants who cross into the United States along the southern border.

With increased resources and more focus on enforcement the border is more safe on the American side. Examples of this can be seen here, here, here and here.

The only people who are really suffering death in great numbers on the border is immigrants who are increasingly the target of violence from drug cartels.

As enforcement has increased and the border has become more militarized, the channels with which drug smugglers and human traffickers has been joined. The joining of the drug smugglers and human trafficking has led to an increase in deaths. Mostly the increase in deaths has been to immigrants who are trying to come into the United States.

Sacha Feinman of the LA Times wrote about this growing problem in his report entitled Drug Cartels Imperil Immigrants in the Desert:

.....migrants and drugs once occupied separate worlds. But tougher border enforcement has pushed the groups into the same obscure parts of the desert. The close company adds a new element of danger to migrants' already perilous journey, and may be responsible for a drop in immigration and economic decline in towns that depend on the migrants.

The combination of drug smuggling and human trafficking has now become common place:

Mexico's drug cartels have become a more formidable presence here, taxing the coyotes and threatening their human cargo as they make their way to the border.

As drug smuggling groups find their profits pinched by tighter border enforcement, they have moved into human smuggling, according to U.S. law enforcement officials. And with good reason: The average migrant pays about $1,300 to $1,800 to be smuggled past the bolstered Border Patrol as well as fences, surveillance towers and other new security measures. What once was a wildcat operation with marginal profits has become big business.

This has created a deadly situation for immigrants crossing the desert. Max Fisher of The Atlantic Magazine has a story up showing just how deadly it has become. In his article Mexico Discovers Mass Grave, Yielding 4 Hard Lessons does a great job of contextualizing what has happened on the border.

1. Journey to America Increasingly Dangerous  The Christian Science Monitor's Sara Miller Llana writes, "With attention focused on the US tightening its borders and stepping up deportations, mostly of undocumented Mexicans, the plight of migrants crossing through Mexico is often overlooked. ... The journey through Mexico has become more and more treacherous as suspected drug traffickers branch out into other businesses, including human trafficking.

2. Why Cartels Are Getting More Violent  The Washington Independent's Elise Foley explains, "It's not the first mass killing by drug cartels, but it may be the largest. Mexican authorities discovered 51 bodies in mass graves in July, and uncovered 55 bodies in a mine in May.

3. Mexican Cartels Pushing South Into New Countries   Reuters' Sarah Grainger reports a "southward push" by the notorious cartels. "Central America is struggling to contain rising violence as powerful Mexican drug cartels, facing an escalating government crackdown at home, expand southward and intensify operations in neighboring nations.

4. War Against Cartels Is Not Going Well  The U.K. Independent's Guy Adams writes, "The discovery on Tuesday afternoon marked a new low in a brutal conflict that has taken the lives of an estimated 28,000 Mexicans since the President, Felipe Calderon, declared 'war' on the nation's wealthy and extraordinarily well-armed drug cartels in 2007. ...