U.S. Water News Online
TUCSON, Ariz. -- Pima County officials have approved another year of funding for a nonprofit organization that maintains 53 remote desert water stations aimed at reducing the number of border-crosser deaths.
The county Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to keep paying $25,000 annually for Humane Borders.
Funding the water stations in the hope of preventing deaths may be cheaper than not funding them, County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry said.
Taxpayers pick up the costs of search and recovery of every illegal immigrant who dies in the desert in the county and that doesn't include about $1,500 the county pays for each autopsy, according to Huckelberry.
Representatives of Humane Borders say the group doesn't encourage illegal immigration or help border crossers evade authorities.
Instead, the group has notified authorities when members come across border crossers in danger of dying of exposure.
"We've gotten a lot of people out of the desert who had no business going any further," said the Rev. Robin Hoover, who's president of Humane Borders.
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