American Surgeon
Volume 70, Issue 12, 2004, Pages 1078-1082

Overcrowded motor vehicle trauma from the smuggling of illegal immigrants in the desert of the southwest (Conference Paper)

Lumpkin M.F. , Judkins D. , Porter J.M. , Latifi R. , Williams M.D.
  • a Department of Surgery, Section of Trauma and Critical Care, University of Arizona Health Sciences Center, Tucson, AZ, United States
  • b Department of Surgery, Section of Trauma and Critical Care, University of Arizona Health Sciences Center, Tucson, AZ, United States
  • c Department of Surgery, Section of Trauma and Critical Care, University of Arizona Health Sciences Center, Tucson, AZ, United States
  • d Department of Surgery, Section of Trauma and Critical Care, University of Arizona Health Sciences Center, Tucson, AZ, United States
  • e Department of Surgery, Section of Trauma and Critical Care, University of Arizona Health Sciences Center, Tucson, AZ, United States

Abstract

Overcrowded motor vehicle crashes caused by the very active criminal enterprise of smuggling illegal immigrants in the desert of the Southwest is a recent and under-recognized trauma etiology. A computerized database search from 1990 through 2003 of local newspaper reports of overcrowded motor vehicle crashes along the 281 miles of Arizona's border with Mexico was conducted. This area was covered by two level I trauma centers, but since July 2003 is now served only by the University Medical Center. Each of these crashes involved a single motor vehicle in poor mechanical shape packed with illegal immigrants. Speeding out of control on bad tires, high-speed rollovers result in ejection of most passengers. Since 1999, there have been 38 crashes involving 663 passengers (an average of 17 per vehicle) with an injury rate of 49 per cent and a mortality rate of 9 per cent. This relatively recent phenomenon (no reports from before 1998) of trauma resulting from human smuggling is lethal and demonstrates the smugglers' wanton disregard for human life, particularly when facing apprehension. Even a few innocent bystanders have been killed. These crashes overwhelm a region's trauma resources and must be recognized when planning the distribution of trauma resources to border states.

Author Keywords

[No Keywords available]

Index Keywords

Trauma Centers publication Arizona human middle aged statistics Aged Mexico multiple trauma Accidents, Traffic United States Humans Adolescent male female preschool child Infant Child, Preschool Article Retrospective Studies Newspapers adult migration emergency health service Emigration and Immigration retrospective study Crowding traffic accident Child
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-13844320757&partnerID=40&md5=91a13d664e2ab67f8f6cb5c849d92706
ISSN: 00031348
Cited by: 4
Original Language: English