An underlying problem with this specific US immigration problem is that we have no rational "guest worker" program, and the people who died in the desert were coming here to do jobs that no "native born" citizen wants to do in the first place. Even when our unemployment rate is high nobody will take field labor jobs or similar positions. A decent guest worker program might take care of both problems at the same time.

That being said, and while I sympathize, I don't think that suing for injuries/death incurred in the commission of a crime (illegal entry) is rational.