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: