AT BORDER, FORTIFICATION CONFLICTS WITH COMPASSION

WASHINGTON, May 24 -- With the death toll of illegal Mexican immigrants
rising, the Bush administration is faced with a central conflict: How
to create more humane conditions at the border while increasing
enforcement with more guards and patrols.

President Bush has committed himself to both goals while working hard
to have a close relationship with Mexico's president, Vicente Fox. In
one of their first displays of cooperation, the leaders organized a
group, led by both countries' secretaries of state, to explore ways to
stem the illegal flow, possibly through a guest-worker program.

Their governments took the unusual step today of issuing a joint
statement expressing "deep sadness" over the deaths of 14 migrants
this week in the Arizona desert.

Yet, while the diplomats confer, the Bush administration is seeking to
fortify its side of the border even more. Under the president's
budget, the number of Border Patrol agents would be increased by 1,140
in the next two years. If Congress approves, the number of guards
would reach 11,000 by 2003, a doubling of personnel in the last six
years.

Reacting to the deaths near Yuma, Attorney General John Ashcroft
announced plans to deploy additional helicopters to the Arizona desert
in June and temporarily assign agents to carry out rescues in
high-risk areas.

Mr. Ashcroft is nonetheless squarely behind the enforcement drive,
which began in recent years on the border near El Paso, Tex., and
later expanded to California and Arizona. It includes efforts to
dismantle smuggling rings that bring illegal migrants from Mexico and
other countries and also traffic in guns and drugs.

In towns like Douglas, Ariz., where hundreds of thousands of
immigrants cross through each year, a 12-foot-high metal wall blocks
passage at familiar crossings, and armed agents patrol through the
night.

But smugglers increasingly try to elude the patrols by taking people
through harsh deserts and mountain ranges. Some immigrants die, though
no one knows how many. Federal officials say more than 400 people died
crossing the border with Mexico last year. Seventeen died in the area
around Douglas.

"The federal government continues to think that the only way to solve
the problem is to put more agents on the border," said Ray Borane, the
city's mayor. "It's all eyewash."

Although months ago, Mr. Fox expressed the dream of an "open border"
between the United States and Mexico, he has since suggested that
Washington approve a program to gradually legalize the status of
Mexican migrants, allowing them to live better in the United States.

The Bush administration is considering new strategies, including the
guest worker program. Officials declined to discuss the details,
saying they would present them to Mexican negotiators when the talks
resume June 6 in San Antonio.

Plans are also under way to reorganize the agency, separating its
enforcement and service duties. But the efforts are complicated by the
fact that Doris M. Meissner has stepped down as commissioner of the
Immigration and Naturalization Service and the administration's
nominee, James Ziglar, has not yet faced confirmation.

Philip Reeker, a State Department spokesman, said the administration
was committed to work with Mexico to establish a "safe and orderly
border." He added: "These tragic deaths highlight the pressing need
for our governments to continue their work to reach new agreements on
migration and border safety."

But some analysts of Mexican immigration questioned Mr. Bush's pledge
to protect the American border in humane ways.

"I never understood what that meant," said Wayne Cornelius, an
immigration expert at the University of California at San Diego. "It
is impossible to continue the current strategy of border operations
without a steadily mounting death toll."

Yet any easing of border controls likely to encourage others to come,
said Steve Johnson, a policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, a
conservative research group. "Behind them are other Mexicans, and
Central Americans," Mr. Johnson said.