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Alma Delia Cruz Lopes, a 23-year-old Mexican, died of thirst while crossing the border into the United States in a remote section of Arizona that customs officials dubbed the “Ho Chi Minh Trail.” She had walked for over twenty miles since leaving Mexico less than 24 hours earlier, on a summer day with temperatures over 43°C. Her cousin waved down a U.S. Customs Service helicopter on an anti-drug patrol, and it circles overhead to provide security and help the Border Patrol emergency team bring her and her companions out of the desert. She and her husband (who stands in the background with customs agents by an emergency bonfire) had left their 2-year-old son behind his grandparents while they sought a better life in America. Increased security patrols and new technologies have made it increasingly difficult to sneak into the United States, making illegal immigrants take greater and greater risks to get across. Two years after Sept 11, border-crossing fatalities have averaged 100-150 people annually.

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Alma Delia Cruz Lopes, a 23-year-old Mexican, died of thirst while crossing the border into the United States in a remote section of Arizona that customs officials dubbed the “Ho Chi Minh Trail.” She had walked for over twenty miles since leaving Mexico less than 24 hours earlier, on a summer day with temperatures over 43°C. Her cousin waved down a U.S. Customs Service helicopter on an anti-drug patrol, and it circles overhead to provide security and help the Border Patrol emergency team bring her and her companions out of the desert. She and her husband (who stands in the background with customs agents by an emergency bonfire) had left their 2-year-old son behind his grandparents while they sought a better life in America. Increased security patrols and new technologies have made it increasingly difficult to sneak into the United States, making illegal immigrants take greater and greater risks to get across. Two years after Sept 11, border-crossing fatalities have averaged 100-150 people annually.

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