ABSTRACT
On 22 February 2006 US Border Patrol agents found the body of the first undocu - mented border crosser to die in Cochise County, Arizona for that year (Arizona Daily Star 2006). The man’s name was Antonio Dominguez Callejas, from Vera Cruz, Mexico. He was 47 years old and had died of exposure and dehydration approximately 35 hours before he was found. Antonio’s death was just one of over 400 undocumented border crossers who would die in 2006 and one of the 3,600-4,000 who have died in the past 10-12 years (Rubio-Goldsmith et al. 2006; US Government Accounting Office 2006). Approximately 20 per cent of these deaths have been women and children. The situation on the US-Mexico border is not unique. According to the United Nations Economic and Social Council, over 3,000 migrants died between 1997 and 2000 attempting to reach Europe, most of these while attempting to cross the Straits of Gibraltar (United Nations Economic and Social Council E/CN.4/2002/NGO/45). These deaths painfully illustrate that while it is undoubtedly true that advances in
transportation and communication have facilitated the relatively easy movement of some people across the globe, some movements entail unspeakable tragedy.
