(Newser)
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Authorities have found the bodies of 252 illegal immigrants in the Arizona desert this year, an all-time high—even though the number of people crossing illegally is down. That’s in part because increased border security has driven would-be crossers to ever more remote and dangerous routes, NPR explains, and in part because Border Patrol simply has more people looking. “We’re getting more skeletal remains,” says one local medical examiner. “There’s greater presence out there by the Border Patrol and whoever, and they’re finding more people who’ve been out there for awhile.”
Border Patrol has also recorded a record number of rescues since last October. One agent blames the surge on the human smugglers who lure immigrants across the border. “They weren’t told that they were going to have to walk for days,” he says. “They weren't told that they were going to have to sleep in the hot desert or maybe the cold desert.”
