You may or may not have heard about the death of 11 out of 14 illegal immigrants trying to cross into the U.S. through the desert between Mexico and Arizona. Some pro-immigration groups at the time criticized the United States for not installing water stations along the illegal immigration route.

If that weren't insane enough, the families are now suing the U.S. government:

Families of 14 undocumented immigrants who died in the Arizona desert two years ago are suing the federal government for $42 million.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Tucson, said the deaths could have been prevented if a humanitarian group had been allowed to install water stations in the desert.

The lawsuit should easily get thrown out of court. It's ridiculous.

These people know they're engaging in dangerous, and illegal, activity. They're adults. And holding the government responsible for not making their illegal activity safer is just plain stupid.

A friend of mine proposed an interesting humanitarian compromise to this situation: Instead of water stations, which would be costly to maintain anyway, simply put beacon, or hot-button, stations along the route. If someone gets in trouble out in the desert, they can just walk up to one of the stations and hit the button. Border patrol can them pick them up, hydrate them if need be, then return them to Mexico.

Sounds like a good solution to me.