From 2001 to 2013, a total of 2,184 people died in the southern border region of Arizona. Approximately 75% of them perished from hyperthermia, heat stroke or dehydration. Although the environmental conditions in the Sonora-Arizona region clearly present a high risk, migrants continue to cross this region. Hence the aim of this study was to examine the perception of migrants as to the risk of high temperatures. Based on 27 interviews conducted in shelters in Agua Prieta and Ciudad Obregón, in Sonora, Mexico, it was found that only a third of the migrants interviewed considered the region’s high temperatures to be a health problem. This paper concludes that this minimization of risk is due to an excess and saturation of dangers associated with violence against migrants in their journey through Mexico. © 2017, El Colegio de la Frontiera Norte. All rights reserved.

Migrants Border Risk Perception High temperatures

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