Illegal-crossing deaths double last year's

22 migrants have died in S.D. sector The number of people who have died while trying to cross the border illegally in the San Diego area has more than doubled in the past year. During the 2007 federal fiscal year – from Oct. 1, 2006, to Sept. 30, 2007 – 11 migrants died in the San Diego sector, Border Patrol Agent Mark Endicott said. This fiscal year, 22 immigrants have died between Oct. 1, 2007, and June 30, Endicott said. That number excludes the bodies of four people found last week in the backcountry. They are suspected of being illegal border-crossers, which would push the death toll this year to 26. While authorities investigate the latest deaths, a volunteer group that works to find lost immigrants is in the midst of another search. Desert Angels is looking for Martín Zamudio Torres, 39, from Santa Maria in Central... [read full story]