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.
