Border Deaths Drop To 15-Year Low

*The reason they say, is increased rescue efforts and a Spanish language media blitz that discourages people from walking across the desert. VL

By Astrid Galvan, Associated Press/Huffington Post Latino Voices

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — The number of people who died trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border has dropped to the lowest level in 15 years as more immigrants turned themselves in to authorities in Texas and fewer took their chances with the dangerous trek across the Arizona desert.

The U.S. government recorded 307 deaths in the 2014 fiscal year that ended in September — the lowest number since 1999. In 2013, the number of deaths was 445.

The Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Valley sector finished the 2014 budget year with 115 deaths, compared with 107 in the Tucson sector, according to figures obtained by The Associated Press. It marks the first time since 2001 that Arizona has not been the deadliest place to cross the border.

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[Photo courtesy of U.S. Customs and Border Protection/Flickr]

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