Josseline's shrine

     I visited the shrine for Josseline Hernandez during a hike along the migrant trails on October 8.  Josseline was a 14-year-old girl from El Salvador who was traveling with her 10-year-old brother.  They were going to Los Angeles to reunite with their mother.  After crossing Guatemala and the entire length of Mexico, they hiked 20 miles in the desert of southern Arizona. 

     Josseline became ill and they were still 20 miles from the pick-up spot.  The “coyote” (guide) left her behind because he had to get the group there on time to meet their ride.  Her brother didn’t want to leave but she told him “You have to keep going and get to Mom.”  Josseline died in the cold of winter in the desert on February 20, 2008.

     Focusing my attention on the task of taking photos allowed me to ignore any feelings about what had happened there.  I pulled out the plants that were obstructing the view of the cross so that I could get a clearer picture.  Then I started removing a few of the plants that had grown up behind the cross and I remembered watching Isabel cleaning the grave of her brother Reyes for the Day of the Dead in El Salvador.  It felt as if I was doing something for Josseline but it was more about soothing my own emotions.

     I took the photos and put the camera back in my pack.  That’s when it hit me and I started to sob.  Sonia, Josseline’s mother, wrote a poem that is inscribed at the base of the cross: “When you feel that the road has turned hard and difficult don’t give up in defeat.  Continue forward and seek God’s help.  We’ll carry you always in our hearts.”

     Josseline died alongside a dry streambed in a small canyon.  As we were hiking up the hill, I looked back and was struck by the beauty of the scenery.  The contrasting emotions of the sorrow for her death and the peace from that view are still with me.

     The sorrow also alternates with anger about the policies that killed Josseline.  Sonia was unable to find work in El Salvador and she went to Los Angeles to earn money to send back for Josseline and her brother.  She had worked for years in L.A. and finally saved up enough money to bring her children there.  Her dream turned to tragedy when Josseline became the victim of a militarized border created by successive administrations in the U.S.

     Bill Clinton began the policy that would lead to the death of Josseline and thousands of other unauthorized immigrants.  He pushed the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) through congress in 1993 and that destroyed the livelihood of more than two million small farmers in Mexico. 

     His administration then started building border walls and placing more Border Patrol agents to block the flow of migrants through Tijuana-San Diego; Nogales, Sonora–Nogales, Arizona; and Ciudad Juarez–El Paso.  This policy of “deterrence” funneled migrants away from the urban areas and into more remote and hazardous terrain.  Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, this militarization was escalated by George Bush and Barack Obama with the justification of “securing the border.”

     Not a single terrorist has been caught crossing the border from Mexico into the U.S.  Yet, the government continues to “deter” people that are seeking work, or to be reunited with their families, by pushing them into the deadliest terrain along the border.  That’s a political objective which is pursued through the use of armed force and causes large numbers of civilian casualties – including 14-year-old girls from El Salvador. 

    Photo of Josseline’s shrine:

Stop the deportation of Sandra Lopez

     Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported 20-year-old Sandra Lopez to Nogales, Sonora on March 9.  She was brought to the U.S. when she was just two weeks old and she doesn’t know anyone in Mexico.  Sandra spent five days on the streets of Nogales and then ran for her life up through the lanes of traffic at the border and crossed back into the U.S.  She was arrested and taken into federal custody, and applied for asylum.  She is now at risk of being deported again.

     I attended a press conference at Southside Presbyterian Church in Tucson on September 29 to call on the Obama administration to halt the detention and deportation of Sandra.  I was able to speak with her mother and father, and I told them I would spread the word about her case. 

     The No More Deaths organization launched a national campaign for Sandra on July 25.  More than 5,000 e-mails, faxes and phone calls have been made to ICE and the Department of Homeland Security.  Please add your voice to the campaign by going to http://www.nomoredeaths.org/Updates-and-Announcements/stop-sandras-deportation.html to send a message.  

     Sandra graduated from high school in Tucson in 2009 and wanted to enroll in Pima Community College.  She was told that she would have to pay out-of-state tuition because she doesn’t have immigration documents.  Her family couldn’t afford that and she began working with her mother cleaning homes.

     She ran into a friend from high school in September 2010, and he asked her to mail a box for him and gave her $100.  Sandra had never sent anything from FedEx before and it cost $85 for the package.  She kept the remaining $15 and it turned out that the package contained marijuana. 

     Sandra plead guilty to “securing the proceeds of an offense” on February 8, 2011 and was placed on three years probation.  She was then transferred to ICE and placed in the Eloy Detention Center – a 1,500 bed facility owned and operated by the Corrections Corporation of America.

     She appeared before an immigration judge on March 9 and was told there was no possibility of relief for her case.  She became very distraught, started crying and signed a form that she did not understand which caused her to be deported to Nogales that night.

     “Strange men began to ask me to come with them,” wrote Sandra in her application for asylum.  “I had a little bit of money so I went to a hotel right by the border and got a room.  I saw men bringing girls a lot younger than me there and the girls looked really scared.  At night I could hear them scream.  I left the next morning.  I was really scared.  Several women met me outside and told me to come with them.  They told me they kept girls like me and gave them jobs.  I know they wanted me to be a sex worker for them.” 

     “I asked policemen for help but they would not help me.  They also tried to get me to go with them and I knew I would be raped.  I lived on the street for five days and nights - just running and hiding.  I was so scared I ran for my life up through the lanes of traffic back into the United States.”

     The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on August 18 that it would “execute a case-by-case review of all individuals in removal [deportation] proceedings to ensure that they constitute our highest priorities.”  DHS also stated, “It makes no sense to expend our enforcement resources on low-priority cases such as individuals who were brought to this country as young children and know no other home.”  Sandra’s case offers the Obama administration an opportunity to show that this is a change we can believe in.

    Photos of Sandra’s mother and father during the press conference: 

The Border Patrol's Culture of Cruelty

      The No More Deaths organization released a report on Border Patrol abuses on September 21.  Seven members of the coalition attempted to deliver the report to the headquarters of the Tucson sector of the Border Patrol but were not allowed on the grounds.  An agent said they couldn’t come in because of concerns about “the safety of detainees.”

     The Presbyterian minister, doctor, nurse, two social workers and two human rights lawyers were stopped at the gate by several armed Border Patrol agents.  I was accompanying the group to photograph the event.  A Border Patrol agent was videoing us as we arrived and a woman in civilian clothes was also taking photos of us.  Tucson police cars began arriving near the gate and there were eventually five patrol cars and two unmarked police cars.

     Agent Easterling came out through the gate to receive the report.  The seven spokespersons each talked about a different area of concern.  John Fife, pastor emeritus of Southside Presbyterian Church, said “The word doesn’t appear in the report but the word that I would use to describe this is sin.” 

     Norma Price is a doctor that volunteers with the Samaritans organization to provide medical care for migrants in distress in the desert.  She used the word “malpractice” to describe the Border Patrol’s denial of medical treatment for migrants who are ill or have been injured.

     Sarah Roberts is a nurse and co-founder of No More Deaths.  She carried a gallon of water and expressed her concern about the Border Patrol’s failure to provide adequate water, or any water in many cases, to migrants apprehended in the desert.

     The report is entitled “A Culture of Cruelty: Abuse and Impunity in Short-Term U.S. Border Patrol Custody” and is available at http://www.cultureofcruelty.org/  More than 4,000 interviews were carried out with migrants who had been deported in Naco, Nogales and Agua Prieta, Sonora.  “Human rights abuses of individuals in short-term U.S. Border Patrol custody are systemic and widespread” concludes the report.

     A Culture of Cruelty documents widespread incidents of the failure to provide water or adequate water; failure to provide food or adequate food; denial of medical treatment; inhumane processing center conditions; verbal, physical and psychological abuse; separation of family members; failure to return personal belongings; and due process concerns.  The Border Patrol issued a statement to the media that day saying “Mistreatment or agent misconduct will not be tolerated in any way.”

     The report also documents dangerous deportation practices including “lateral repatriation” of unauthorized migrants.  The Alien Transfer and Exit Program deports people through a different port of entry than the one nearest to where they crossed into the U.S.  Someone who crossed the border into Arizona could be sent back to Mexico through California or Texas.  Migrants usually have very little or no money when they’re deported and dropping them off in an unfamiliar city puts them at risk.

     Another dangerous practice is to deport people late at night in cities with problems of violence.  I visited the San Juan Bosco migrant shelter in Nogales on September 24.  One of the volunteers there told us a group of deported migrants arrived at 1:30 that morning and another group at 2:30.  That’s an obvious example of abuse that is tolerated and routinely practiced by the Border Patrol.    

     Photos of agent receiving report, agent with video camera, and police presence:

Beauty and death in the desert

     I went for a hike in a beautiful area of the desert with Samaritans and Desert Angels on August 14.  Unfortunately, the purpose of the hike wasn’t as pleasant as the scenery.  We were searching for the body of a woman who became exhausted and was left behind by the “coyote” (smuggler) that was guiding the group of migrants.

     “Those are the rules of the coyote,” explained Ricardo.  “Everyone has their own limited amount of energy.  Sometimes it’s either you or the whole group.”  Slowing or stopping the trek for one person could mean everyone perishing from the heat and dehydration. 

     Desert Angels is based in San Diego and they patrol the desert looking for migrants in need of water, food, and medical care.  The family of the woman we were looking for had called them last week.  Ricardo and three other members drove 500 miles from San Diego to Arivaca, Arizona on Friday, August 12.  They stayed at the No More Deaths camp where volunteers provide aid to migrants, hike the migrant trails, and leave jugs of water alongside the trails.

     Ricardo also contacted Samaritans to assist with the search.  Samaritans go out on daily patrols in the region that includes Arivaca and I participated in their volunteer training on August 7.  This was my first outing with the organization – looking for the body of a 40-year-old woman who crossed the border at Sasabe three weeks ago and was left behind somewhere near Arivaca.

     Ricardo and the others had hiked along one of the main trails on the north side of Arivaca Road the day before.  We decided to hike a loop on two primary trails south of the road.  We saw footprints, empty water bottles, and discarded clothing and daypacks.  As we were approaching the top of a hill, we saw several one-gallon water jugs that had been placed under a tree by volunteers of No More Deaths.      

     When we were hiking back on the other trail we saw more than a dozen similar jugs strewn alongside the trail.  They were all empty, yet some still had the caps on.  We looked closer and realized they had been shot and slashed open.  Someone had deliberately destroyed the water that was placed in the desert for migrants – water that could have possibly saved the life of the woman we were searching for. 

     “How could anyone do such a thing?” I asked myself.  I then realized that the people who did this horrendous act were just following the example set by the government.  The current border policy is based on “deterrence.”  The Clinton administration built walls and stationed more agents in urban areas along the border where crossing had been relatively easy.  The goal was to “Raise the risk…to the point that many will consider it futile to attempt illegal entry…Illegal traffic will be deterred or forced over more hostile terrain less suited for crossing.”  That policy was expanded by George Bush and has been escalated even further by Barack Obama.

     Migrants have been funneled from California and Texas towards the desert of southern Arizona.  More than 6,000 people have died while attempting to cross into the U.S. from Mexico since Bill Clinton began this policy in 1994.  Nearly half of those people died here in Arizona, including 253 last year. 

     Ricardo and his fellow angels left for San Diego after our hike in order to be back at work on Monday morning.   Miguel took a lot of photos of the area where we hiked that he will share with the woman’s family.  They might be able to provide additional clues based on those photos to narrow the search and the Desert Angels could return to continue looking for her.

Photos of the desert and Rafael holding a water jug that had been shot:

Tearing down walls and welcoming immigrants

     A large excavator was tearing down a section of the border wall in Nogales when I was there with a delegation on June 1.  Residents of Nogales, Sonora were able to look directly across the border into Nogales, Arizona for the first time in 16 years.  The people who had gathered to watch the operation burst out in applause as a piece of the wall was pulled down. 

     Another excavator was alongside the border about 100 feet away.  That machine was being used to erect a higher and stronger wall.  Two armed men from the Safety and Security Solutions company were guarding the opening between the old wall and the new one.  Two Border Patrol agents and a Nogales police officer were also standing guard to ensure that no one stepped across the imaginary line separating the two sides of Nogales. 

     The First Presbyterian Church of Oxford (Mississippi) delegation had arrived in Nogales, Sonora two days earlier and our first stop was at Grupos Beta – a Mexican government agency that provides aid to migrants.  Gelma, Brenda, Isabel and Carmen told us they were from Acapulco and had tried to enter the U.S. in search of work.  They crossed one morning and were apprehended by the Border Patrol that afternoon.  One of the delegation participants asked why they thought it was so hard for them to enter the U.S. and they each responded: “Racism.”

     The following day, we visited a meal program for migrants operated by the Catholic church.  Anulfa described how she had walked for three nights in the desert of southern Arizona.  She began to cry and said, “I thought I was going to die.”  They were going up and down steep, rocky hills and were running out of food and water.  She couldn’t go any further and was apprehended by the Border Patrol.

     The U.S. government has erected hundreds of miles of walls and placed thousands of Border Patrol agents in areas where people used to cross the border relatively easily.  This strategy of “deterrence” has pushed migrants into the most inhospitable and dangerous regions to cross.  The bodies of 253 migrants were found in the Arizona desert last year.  The actual number of deaths is much higher because the desert is a very harsh environment and most bodies are never found.

     Maria told us she had lived for 13 years in Phoenix and has three children that are 7, 12 and 16 years-old.  She was apprehended for driving without a license in October 2010.  As an undocumented immigrant she was unable to obtain a license.  She was separated from her children and sent back to Mexico.  Maria has tried to cross back into the U.S. ten times since then to be with her children.  During her ninth attempt, she spent 90 days in two different Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers.

     We met with two ICE representatives the day after we spoke with Anulfa and Maria.  They told us that ICE is “looking for the worst of the worse” to remove from the country.  “The United States is one of the most welcoming countries in the world in terms of immigration,” they concluded.

     We went on a water run the following morning with Humane Borders.  The organization maintains water stations in the desert to aid migrants that are at risk of dying from dehydration.  A Border Patrol truck pulled up behind our rental van as we were driving back towards Tucson.  They turned on the flashing lights and pulled us over.  Four armed agents got out and came alongside the van.  “Are you U.S. citizens?” they asked; and then, “What are you doing here?”  “Did you see any traffic (i.e. migrants) when you were out there?” asked one of the agents before allowing us to continue on our way to the Arizona-Sonora Desert museum.

    

    

Border wall and Friendship Park

     I looked down on the beach at Tijuana on February 11 and saw the border wall extending out into the Pacific Ocean.  I was standing on the former site of Friendship Park.  The park was inaugurated by first lady Pat Nixon in 1971 to celebrate the relations between the people of Mexico and the United States.  The Department of Homeland Security built a secondary border fence (100 feet north of the wall) during the first months of the Obama administration and eliminated Friendship Park. 
     The Clinton administration created the border wall in 1994 – just months after the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was implemented.  U.S. corporations used NAFTA to flood Mexico with subsidized corn and more than two million Mexican farmers lost their land.
     Displaced farmers, along with workers who had lost their jobs, crossed into the U.S. to seek employment.  The Clinton administration built walls in the urban areas to push the migrants into more remote and hazardous terrain.  The goal was to “Raise the risk…to the point that many will consider it futile to attempt illegal entry…Illegal traffic will be deterred or forced over more hostile terrain less suited for crossing.”  More than 5,000 people have now died while attempting that crossing.
     I was in Tijuana and San Diego to participate in the “Turning Walls into Tables” border conference organized by the United Church of Christ and Disciples of Christ.  Josue, a minister in Mexico, challenged all of us to knock down the walls that divide us – including the walls in our hearts and minds.
     Pat Nixon planted a tree to inaugurate Friendship Park and then ordered her security guards to cut the barbed wire fence at the border.  She crossed over to embrace some of the Mexican children and said “I hope there won’t be a fence here too long.”
     Photos of the border wall at Tijuana and the former site of Friendship Park: