A Mexico immigrant-rights leader says building fences doesn't control illegal immigration. Activists on both sides of the border are getting together Sunday at the westernmost stretch of the border fence between San Diego and Tijuana. KPBS Reporter Amy Isackson has the story.
Robin Hoover founded the Humane Borders Group, which mans 87 water stations along migrant routes in the Arizona-Mexico desert. He'll speak at a protest Sunday. He says building fences along the border is an arcane concept.
Hoover: It doesn't work. It's not even a manpower multiplier cause you could do a whole lot of this electroncally if you wanted to do that. It just sounds good to Washington but it doesn't look good and doesn't work well down here.
During the last four years the federal government has built more than 100 miles of fencing in Arizona. Hoover says the barrier has simply pushed illegal immigrants into more dangerous areas. He says on average this year, migrants died 4 1/2 miles away from a road. He says that's compared to seven years ago, when most bodies were found less than a mile and a half away. More than 400 illegal immigrants have died trying to cross the border so far this year. Amy Isackson, KPBS News.
