The deaths come in the wake of a new Bush administration amnesty proposal being perceived by some migrants as a magnet to cross.

"The season of death" — as Robert Bonner, the commissioner in charge of the Border Patrol, calls the hot months — has only just begun.

Already 61 people have died in the Arizona border region since last Oct. 1 — triple the pace of the previous year, the Mexican Interior Ministry says.

The Border Patrol, which counts only bodies it processes, says 43 people have died near the Arizona border since the start of its fiscal year Oct. 1, more than in any other year in the same period.

If the pace keeps up, this will be the deadliest year ever to cross the nation's busiest smuggling corridor.

The 154 deaths in the Border Patrol's Tucson and Yuma sectors last year set a record.

"This is unprecedented," said the Rev. John Fife, a Presbyterian minister in Tucson who is active in border humanitarian efforts. "Ten years ago, there were almost no deaths on the southern Arizona border. What they've done is created this gantlet of death."

Through April 30, apprehensions of crossers in the desert south of Tucson had jumped 60 percent over the previous year. Nearly 300,000 people were caught since last Oct. 1.

After a four-year drop, apprehensions are up 30 percent over last year along the entire southern border, with 660,390 people detained from Oct. 1 through April 30, federal officials said.

Administration officials say there is only anecdotal evidence, from field agents, that President Bush's proposal has caused the spike in crossings.

They point to a new $10 million border initiative and indications in recent weeks that apprehensions have leveled off as evidence they are getting the upper hand on the Arizona border.

Under the Bush proposal, a temporary worker program would be created for undocumented immigrants already in the United States and for other foreigners who have been offered jobs here.

Migrants would be able to get renewable three-year labor visas but would not receive special consideration for permanent residence or citizenship.