Sunday, September 8, 1996

Captures, rain dampens immigrant death toll

By Associated Press

CORPUS CHRISTI (AP) - Heavy rains, cooler temperatures and more arrests has made what had become a trail of death for illegal immigrants less lethal, U.S. Border Patrol officials said.

At least 10 illegal immigrants have died of exposure and dehydration this summer as they tried to enter the country on foot through the searing South Texas summer.

However, officials at the Falfurrias checkpoint, where two immigrants died this year, said none of the immigrants they apprehended in August were suffering from dehydration.

Heavy rains on the brush country have filled water holes and reduced the risk of illegal immigrants becoming sick from the heat, officials said.

Many water holes, from which immigrants quench their thirst during the trek into the country, are about 30 percent full after August rains, said Frank Chavarria, agent-in-charge of Border Patrol offices in Kingsville and Sarita. Before the rains, many of the pools were dry, officials said.

"When it rains there's more traffic. It makes it more accommodating to walk around the checkpoint," Chavarria said. "We haven't had any incidents of exposure or of people in trouble in August, except for (vehicle) accidents."

Also, 18,725 illegal aliens were apprehended in the McAllen sector in August, 1,696 more than in July, according to statistics released Friday.

"Historically, the rains slow down apprehensions. That isn't the case now," said Letty Valadez, spokeswoman for the patrol's McAllen Sector.

At the Falfurrias checkpoint, agents use the wet conditions to their advantage.

"The wet ground helps us look for fresh signs," said Charles Roberson, agent in charge. "It helps us find tracks of groups that may have bypassed our sensors. We have sensors set up, but we also have agents working the ranch roads and brush."

Roberson said the rain hasn't slowed the numbers of immigrants apprehended, averaging more than 1,200 people per month since January.

"We expect those high numbers to continue," he said.