The state of Arizona, located in the Southwest region of the United States, shares a 389 mile border with Mexico. After the passing of the Secure Fence Act of 2006, a 640 mile fence has been built along the US/Mexico border, and much of the foot traffic has been funneled to Arizona, forcing migrants to pass through its harsh desert.

As part of a student delegation by the Center for New Community to Arizona earlier this year, I had the privilege of following a few migrant trails and spending some time in the Sonora desert myself. What I saw and experienced in only half a day in the desert were pretty terrifying. Clothes had been shed along the way to lighten the load, and the presence of high heels and baby strollers were a clear indication that people had been misled regarding the nature of the travels.

First of all, every single living organism in the desert is built to harm you. The plants will scratch you, the animals will bite you, and the sun will scorch your skin. 120+ degree temperatures are regularly recorded in the hottest weeks of the Arizona summer. And yet many of the migrant workers coming through the Arizona border are ill equipped for the journey. Three days of walking is not something to be taken lightly, and negligence can be deadly.

In July 2010 alone, 60 bodies have been recovered along the US/Mexico border, the highest number since July 2005. The number of deaths along the border since 2001, 1,650, has eclipsed the number of US troop deaths in Afghanistan, 1,200, over the same period of time.

So far this year, over 170 bodies have been recovered in Arizona’s Pima County, the deadliest stretch of the US/Mexico border. This is the second highest number on record, after 218 deaths recorded a mere three years ago in the same area. And every human rights measure taken to combat these tragedies has been fiercely fought by the authorities.

This is simply unacceptable. And I hope as the year ends that Americans will do everything in their power to stop this from happening again next year.