WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- The number of illegal immigrants who die crossing the border has doubled in the last 10 years, according to the Government Accountability Office.
Three-quarters of the increase in deaths occurred in the Arizona desert, according to a GAO report released Thursday.
"This increase in deaths occurred despite the fact that, according to published estimates, there was not a corresponding increase in the number of illegal entries," states the report.
The GAO analyzed statistics from the Border Patrol, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), and state vital registries.
It found significant differences in the numbers, and the GAO said the Border Patrol needs "to improve its methods for collecting data in order to accurately record deaths as changes occur in the locations where migrants attempt to cross the border -- and consequently where migrants die."
"GAO's analysis of data from the BSI, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), and studies of state vital registries shows consistent trends in the numbers, locations, causes, and characteristics of migrant border-crossing deaths that occurred along the southwest border between 1985 and 2005. Since 1995, the number of border-crossing deaths increased and by 2005 had more than doubled," states the report.
According to GAO numbers, the largest cause of death is excessive heat or hypothermia. After declining from 2000 to 2004, exposure deaths peaked in 2005 at around 180. Traffic fatalities and drowning were the second and third most frequent cause of death in 2005 at about 40 deaths each. Homicide, suicide and Border Patrol shootings caused roughly 20 deaths in 2005, according to GAO charts.
