Bodily Inertia and the Weaponization of the Sonoran Desert in US Boundary Enforcement: A GIS Modeling of Migration Routes through Arizona’s Altar Valley

Abstract

This article conducts geographic information system (GIS) modeling of unauthorized migration routes in the Sonoran Desert in southern Arizona and finds an increase in the ruggedness of terrain crossed by pedestrian travelers throughout time. The modeling of ruggedness incorporates multiple variables that include slope, vegetation, "jaggedness," and ground temperature, and provides an alternative to Euclidian distance as a way of measuring and conceptualizing borderlands space. The data that informs our analysis is derived from comprehensive activity logs maintained by the humanitarian organization No More Deaths from 2012 to 2015, including 4,847 unique entries documenting the use of 27,439 gallons of clean drinking water at 512 distinct geotagged cache sites located along known pedestrian migration routes. The shift in migration routes toward more difficult terrain within this one high-traffic corridor reveals the ongoing impacts of the US Border Patrol's strategy of "Prevention Through Deterrence." In short, the pressures of enforcement on migration routes combine with everyday interference with humanitarian relief (No More Deaths and Coalició n de Derechos Humanos 2018) to maximize the physiological harm experienced by unauthorized migrants. Among other outcomes, this explains both the persistence of mortality of unauthorized migrants and an increase in the rate of mortality over time (Martínez et al. 2014). The article concludes with several policy recommendations for US Customs and Border Protection that include making interference and vandalism of humanitarian aid a fireable offense; the formation of a border-wide agency tasked with search-and-rescue and emergency medical response, whose mission and operations are restrained by a clear firewall between itself and those of law enforcement; and ending Prevention Through Deterrence as a nationwide strategy.

Climate impact or policy choice? The spatiotemporality of thermoregulation and border crosser mortality in southern Arizona

“…Although counterintuitive, border crosser mortalities due to heat exposure have increased over time relative to the number of people selecting routes of travel through compensable areas of higher elevations with less sun exposure. Indeed, prior studies have shown that undocumented migration has steadily trended toward more rugged and difficult areas of transit where ambient temperatures tend to be cooler, and that are also characterised by greater access to shade and less sun exposure (Boyce et al, 2019; Chambers, 2020). Such changes in migration routes are a result of a series of ‘Funnel Effects’ associated with PTD (Chambers et al, 2021b; Gokee et al, 2020; Martínez et al, 2021; Rubio‐Goldsmith et al, 2006; Soto, 2018), and they indicate how a lack of water and extended exertion, even in cooler or more ‘hospitable’ environments, can still result in hyperthermia (Boulze et al, 1983).…”

From towers to walls: Trump’s border wall as entrepreneurial performance

“…The erection of 'high-security' fencing on the US-Mexico border failed to deter undocumented immigration from Mexico (Masse et al, 2002). While the construction of new fencing in California made unauthorized crossing more difficult, trafficking routes moved to the more dangerous desert areas in Arizona, causing migrant deaths to increase significantly (Boyce et al, 2019;Sundberg, 2013). Contrary to expectations, border fencing encouraged the trafficking economy, and fused drug trafficking with human trafficking (Brown, 2010;Verisk, 2017).…”

Reversing Channels and Unsettling Binaries: Rethinking Migration and Agrarian Change under Expanded Border and Immigration Enforcement

“…Instead of deterring potential attempts, these elevated costs often bind migrants to cycles of debt-driven return migration to pay smuggling loans [63]. The weaponization of the borderlands has led to a tragic growth in migrant death and disappearance, with at least 300-500 known migrant deaths recorded near the border every year [23,55,94,100] and a more recent increase in the ratio of deaths to migration attempts [12,92].…”