Migrants killed by bandits, or border vigilantes?

TUCSON -- At least four immigrants have been shot and killed recently in Arizona, including children, and others wounded.

The first shooting and murder was near Eloy, where men in camo are said to have stopped a vehicle full of suspected migrants and opened fire.

Thursday's triple murder was near the Silverbell Mountains, northwest of Tucson. The top photo of the scene shows a man dead in the pickup bed.

The Derechos Humanos Coalition made this comment: A horribly violent attack yesterday. Although it is still not clear who the shooters were or what their motivations were, it is crystal clear that our policies, which have shifted traffic into remote, dangerous areas, and created the lucrative business of underground human smuggling are to blame for the increasing violence we are seeing in our communities. Anti-immigrant and hate rhetoric, xenophobic policies, vigilante activity, and the tragedy of migrant deaths are the direct results of our border and immigration policies, period.

Eloy and the Silverbells are far from the border, reducing the likelihood that these attacks were by border bandits. Bandits can be a problem, and they may be responsible here, but they are not known to murder people they are trying to rob.

Some minutemen and other border vigilantes, seen here on the border with high powered guns, are known to threaten violence against migrants. Perhaps some of them are now carrying out threats by gunning down migrants?

The possibility of border vigilantes being responsible for these murders and shootings deserves serious investigation.